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Workers clash with police in China
Associated Press - July 27, 2009
Beijing – About 30,000 Chinese steelworkers clashed with police and beat a general manager to death in a protest over plans to merge their mill, a human rights monitor said.
Several hundred people were injured in the clash on Friday in the north-eastern city of Tonghua, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed statement.
Employees of Tonghua Iron and Steel Group objected to plans for Jianlong Steel take control of the company, the centre said. It said Beijing-based Jianlong controlled the company temporarily last year, and employees blamed Jianlong for financial problems at the time.
Angry Tonghua employees attacked Jianlong general manager Chen Guojun during the protest and beat him to death, the centre said. It said Mr Chen's friends confirmed he was dead.
Workers were angry that he was paid 3 million yuan ($A538,426) last year while some retirees received as little as 200 yuan a month, the centre said.
Beijing is trying to streamline China's sprawling steel industry, the world's largest, by orchestrating a series of mergers aimed at creating globally competitive producers. The mergers often are accompanied by lay-offs that sometimes spark complaints that workers receive too little severance pay.
A woman who answered the phone on Saturday at the government office for the Tonghua district where the steel company is located confirmed a protest occurred on Friday said she had no details of deaths or arrests. She refused to give her name.
A man who answered the phone at the Tonghua city hall said provincial government and Communist Party leaders had taken charge of handling complaints by Tonghua employees.Jianlong took over Tonghua last year but suffered losses after steel prices fell and jettisoned Tonghua, the human rights monitor said. It said Jianlong revived the takeover plan this year.
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