Chinese workers say silicosis protest was broken up with beatings and pepper spray
- Campaigners have worked for nearly 10 years to highlight what they say is human cost of Shenzhen’s construction boom
- Many workers denied help because they had no documentation from employers
Chinese workers who are terminally ill with silicosis complained of being pepper-sprayed and beaten by police during a demonstration outside Shenzhen government offices on Wednesday night.
According to protesters, who provided videos and photographs to support their claims of heavy-handed policing, more than 300 workers from Sangzhi and Leiyang in central Hunan province travelled to Shenzhen on Monday for the ninth time this year to petition authorities for work injury compensation and medical costs after contracting the lung condition, for which there is no cure.
They were representatives of more than 600 people who worked on construction sites across Shenzhen in the 1990s and 2000s.
One demonstrator – who suffers from advanced silicosis – said they marched to Shenzhen city government building on Wednesday afternoon, where they demanded to meet the mayor. They started a sit-in which ran into the evening, but a scuffle broke out about 8pm after a female protester tried to stop a security agent from filming her.
“She touched the video recorder but was kicked so hard that she fell on the ground. This has angered a lot of workers,” said the demonstrator.