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Police, workers clash a second day

Activists from India's Communist Party of India-Marxist and Communist Party of India attempt to break through a barricade as police use water cannons to disperse them during a protest rally against the Haryana state police, outside the Haryana State House near New Delhi yesterday. The activists were protesting against riot police brutally beating workers of a Japanese automobile factory during a demonstration on Monday injured nearly 130 people. PHOTO: AFP

Indian riot police and workers of the Indian unit of Japan's Honda Motor clashed for a second day yesterday on New Delhi's outskirts after nearly 130 people were injured in pitched battles on Monday, officials said.

The steel-helmeted police fired teargas and used water canon and bamboo canes to push back hundreds of workers yesterday in Gurgaon, a satellite city of the capital, after they broke through barricades.

The protesters had gathered outside a hospital where people hurt in Monday's clashes were being treated. Authorities had no word on any fresh injuries. But TV footage showed many flung to the ground by the force of the water.

The new clashes came as parliament erupted in uproar over Monday's violence, one of the most violent worker demonstrations in years, in which at least 300 people were arrested. Revulsion against the violence cut across party lines.

"Shame, Shame," shouted lawmakers from the opposition as well as the government communist coalition allies, as parliament erupted in anger.

"This is an atrocious and barbaric attack on workers by the police and reflects the establishment's neo-liberal polices which is contemptuous of workers' rights," D. Raja of the Communist Party of India said.

"People were being thrown in the gutter," Vijay Kumar Malhotra, a senior lawmaker of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said in the lower House of Parliament. "The Haryana government should be dismissed."

BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra accused police of inflicting "atrocities" against the workers.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed "deep anguish" over the violence.

Live TV footage on Monday showed bleeding workers being dragged by their feet and policemen kicking and punching men lying inert on the pavement.

"Cops go beserk, thrash workers black and blue," said a front-page headline in the Times of India.

The workers had been seeking to submit an appeal to district officials seeking reinstatement of 30 sacked employees when the violence erupted. Media reports said events came to a head after police blocked their march.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil told parliament 92 workers were hurt when police baton-charged hundreds of people. Thirty-five police officers and security personnel were also injured, he said, citing preliminary figures.

The figures were far lower than the 550 people reported by the Press Trust of India to have been admitted to hospital on Monday.

Police sought to disperse the workers after they beat up an officer and torched and smashed government vehicles, officials said, adding the workers were carrying iron rods and axes.

Authorities denied workers' statements that many demonstrators suffered serious head injuries.

"There have been no serious injuries," said Sudhir Rajpal, deputy commissioner of Gurgaon.

"This mob was going around smashing cars, showrooms and public property," Rajpal said, adding 300 to 400 people had been arrested but most were later freed on bail.

"They were carrying iron rods, tree stems, logs and axes. You can't say this was a unilateral action," he said.

TV networks showed the beating of workers cowering outside the Honda plant by swarms of riot police in Gurgaon, where many multinational firms have their bases.

Rajpal visited a hospital where the injured were being treated yesterday and said more than half of the injured had been released.
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