Riot Police Attack Factory Workers In China

Riot police rushed a group of factory workers who were blocking traffic in a southwestern city to demand pay and benefits, breaking up the protest by dragging the workers away, a human rights group said Sunday.

In Zigong, 1,000 miles southwest of Beijing in Sichuan province, a state-run radio factory stopped reimbursing employees for medical expenses two years ago and has failed to pay many workers over the past year.

About 300 workers and nearly 1,000 spectators blocked a major intersection for three hours Friday, according to the New York-based group Human Rights in China.

A 50-man riot squad backed by 200 police officers attacked the crowd, the group said. Although many laborers were taken away, all are believed to have been released, the group said.