A strike of metallurgists dispersed by police in Georgia

At night of September, 16, the police dispersed an action of protest of metallurgists in Georgia and detained 15 persons without a charge. Later the detained were released. This was reported by Irakly Petriashvili, leader of Association of Trade Unions.

By September, 15, the number of strikers in "Hercules" plant came to 350 people. Two more hunger strikers joined five ones who started earlier. Only Indian workers who worked 12 hours a day stayed in their working places (120 to 150 persons by different sources of data). Only one melting furnace out of eight was functioning at the plant. 

According to Petriashvili, about 100 workers stayed in the territory of the plant at night. At 10 o'clock in the evening a flying squad arrived and detained 15 of them.

"200 policemen came up to the strikers. They knew the activists by names. Two or three policemen approached each of them and suggested to follow them to the police department", Irakly Petriashvili said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. 

No one put up resistance to the police because the number of policemen was much more than that of the strikers. 

Attorneys of Association of Trade Unions tried to find out the reason for detention and what kind of prison conditions they were kept in, however in the police department they were told that there were no detentions at all.

"The policemen on duty just declared that they had no information of detention of the persons the attorneys inquired about", Petriashvili said. 

According to representatives of trade unions, simultaneously with the arrest of workers in the territory of the plant itself the police carried out the same kind of raids in the houses of other workers who had not come to their working places. 

According to eyewitnesses, 35 persons all in all were detained. 

At two o'clock at night the detainees were released. According to Irakly Petriashvili, it happened because of interference of international community. 

"We beat an alarm and spread the information over all international organizations. On the same evening representatives of International Labour Organization called to the Apparat of Prime Minister of Georgia, so the Government realized that the detentions would not pass unnoticed and the people were released", Leader of Association of Trade Unions reported. 

There is no information of what was happening in the investigative isolation wards and what the policemen talked with the detainees about. However, at present all the workers have turned up for work and "Hercules" plant is continuing production output.

"But the workers brought from India were treated even worse: their representatives said that the administration took their passports away. After several Indians decided to go back home they were denied getting their passports back. Their boss allegedly declared that a certain sum of money was spent on each worker's transfer and they would not be allowed to return to their motherland until they worked the debt out", Petriashvili reported. 

Vice Mayor of Kutaisi Irakly Jikia issued an official statement in which he supported the actions of the management of the plant who discharged the workers.

"Any investor will have maximum support from the state for our first-priority goal is job creation and employment of local population", "Interpressnews" media agency quotes Jikia. 

"Central Georgian TV channels did not report the dispersal of the action in Kutaisi", a blogger under the nick-name of BERG...man Tbilisi at the web-site of the "Caucasian Knot" wrote.