Samsung workers’ protest: Minister says T.N. govt. ‘not trying to curb rights’

Tension prevailed near Sunguvarchatram in Sriperumbudur near Chennai on Wednesday (October 9, 2024) as employees of Samsung India continued their protest for the 31st day, with the police cracking down on the workers by arresting them and dispersing them from the protest site.

Sources said that earlier, at around midnight, 10 office-bearers of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-backed Samsung workers’ union were arrested by the police at their homes amid resistance from the workers. The pandal that they had erected for the protest was also dismantled in the night without any notice.

The workers, however, continued their strike in an open space on Wednesday at the protest site in Echoor village, a kilometre away from the Samsung India manufacturing plant. The police then made another round of arrests, dispersing all the workers from the area.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, meanwhile, said the State government was not trying to curb the workers’ protest, and that the police had taken action only over protests held without their permission. The arrested workers have been released, he said.

The 10 union members were released on their own bail, sources said.