picture from Dajiyuan
A crackdown carried out by local police on 7 October against protesting workers from the Chongqing Steel Plant resulted in the death of two women protestors, 24 workers being injured, and the detention of three of the workers’ leaders, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The police crackdown ended a two-month-long series of protest demonstrations by several thousand workers at the steel factory who were laid off by the company without compensation in August this year, following the company’s bankruptcy the previous month.
The 7 October clash occurred while the workers were staging a sit-in protest outside the municipal government headquarters. According to an eye-witness cited by RFA, around 200 police arrived at the scene between 6.30 and 8.30 am, and several men – believed to be plainclothes officers – then overturned two police vehicles. An additional 200 or so anti-riot police were then summoned, and they immediately began beating and kicking the workers. One woman of around 70 years old, and another of around 50 years old, reportedly died as a result of the police violence.
