text: Five Paraguayan bus drivers and one of their wives CRUCIFY themselves in union protest over sackings 
   
   
   
   The gruesome demonstration in Paraguay began 20 days ago 
   
   
   
   Eight drivers were 'fired after asking for medical benefits and overtime pay' 
   
   
   
   The protesters have vowed to continue until they are given their jobs back 
   
   Five bus drivers and one of their wives have crucified themselves, driving 38cm nails through their hands into wooden crosses in a union protest over sackings in Paraguay. 
   
   
   
   The gruesome demonstration, which is taking place near the bus terminal at Luque, 12km outside the capital Asuncion, began 20 days ago. 
   
   
   
   Each protester has been positioned next to an empty coffin and all have vowed to continue until they are given their jobs back. 
   
   Scroll down for video 
   
   
   
   The gruesome demonstration, which is taking place near the bus terminal at Luque, 12km outside the capital Asuncion, began 20 days ago. 
   
   Five bus drivers crucified themselves using five-inch nails after they were fired allegedly for being members of a union 
   
   Mr Villalba, told AFP: 'Our position is clear: we want the eight drivers to be reinstated with all employee benefits. Otherwise the strike is not lifted.' 
   
   He claims some 50 drivers working for the bus company which serves the capital have worked for years without receiving any benefits. 
   
   
   
   Company manager Aufredi Paredes said five of the drivers will be re-hired, but the rest will receive legal separation payments. 
   
   
   
   Bus drivers, from left, Mariano Centurion, Sergio Cardozo, Felix Aguero, Dario Vera, Claudio Ramirez and Oscar Garcia lie down with their hands nailed to wooden crosses during a protest on the outskirts of Asuncion 
   
   
   
   ||||| Eight Paraguayan bus drivers, who were reportedly fired from their jobs after demanding better pay and conditions, haved nail themselves to crosses in Luque, a town north of the capital, Asuncion. 
   
   The men have been lying nailed to crosses through their hands for 20 days, and have vowed to continue their protest until they are reinstated. 
   
   Union leader Juan Villalba, one of the drivers crucified, said they would not give up their protest until all are reinstated. 
   
   Mr Villalba claimed they had been sacked after asking for overtime pay, medical insurance and state pension contributions. 
   
   The drivers' wives are also taking turns to be nailed to crosses alongside their husbands. One appealed to the country's president to come witness their "inhuman situation". 
   
   "I am joining in today. Tomorrow it will be another mum, and the following day it could be another, because we have to defend our rights," she said. 
   
   The manager of the Vanguardia bus company, Aufredi Paredes, said five of the drivers would be re-hired, but the group are refusing to return until all eight are reinstated.
target: – A group of bus drivers in Paraguay is going to extreme measures to get back the jobs they lost: They crucified themselves—three weeks ago, reports the BBC. The men (some media reports say five, other say eight) used 15-inch nails to affix their hands to crosses that have been laid on the ground, and they've been in that position since losing their jobs (media reports again differ, with some saying the men were laid off, and others saying they were fired) after clamoring for better pay and conditions. Their wives are taking turns, too, the Telegraph reports. "I am joining in today. Tomorrow it will be another mom," said one, who asked that the country's president come and see the "inhuman situation." Some of the men are suffering fevers as well as stomach and chest pains, while four other unions members have been on hunger strike for 36 days, the Daily Mail reports. The bus company has said it will rehire five of the workers and help the other three find new jobs, but the group says it won't budge. "Our position is clear: we want the eight drivers to be reinstated with all employee benefits," the union leader said. "Otherwise the strike is not lifted."