Violent protests at Hazira steel plant: 40 workers arrested, booked for 'attempt to murder' in Gujarat

The FIR revealed that police used 36 rounds of teargas shells, 10 rounds of firing in the air and four riot control hand grenades to disperse the mob and control the situation.

Ahmedabad: The Surat police have charged 40 workers and a mob of thousands of unidentified individuals with attempted murder, unlawful assembly, and other offenses following the violent protests at the ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) plant in Hazira, Surat, on Thursday.

The FIR states that 4,000 to 5,000 workers were demanding a reduction in working hours, double overtime, access to drinking water, clean toilets and bathrooms, among other things.

On Thursday morning, workers employed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) were protesting when it turned violent. Although the FIR doesn't mention the name of L&T anywhere, AMNS in a statement had claimed, "A group of workers deployed by L&T at AM/NS India plant project site gathered today to raise some demands on their employee, L&T. L&T management is expeditiously handling the situation in discussion with the workers. Local authorities are also involved in managing the situation on ground."

The police used 36 rounds of teargas shells, 10 rounds of firing in the air and four riot control hand grenades to disperse the mob and control the situation, the FIR revealed.

During the protest, several policemen sustained injuries while 40 workers were arrested from the spot whose names are mentioned in the FIR as accused.

The FIR is filed on the basis of a complaint submitted by police inspector V L Parmar posted with Hazira police station. Parmar has stated that the workers were demanding "salary increase, eight-hour shift, double overtime, drinking water, clean toilets, bathrooms, and permission to bring cell phones inside the company".

The FIR alleges that the workers' violence was "pre-determined." According to the FIR, as part of the conspiracy, the workers caused a disturbance involving "officers, AMNS workers, and police officers", and "attacked them by pelting stones and iron pipes, which could have led to fatalities".

The FIR states that in the presence of several policemen, company security officials were speaking to the workers, urging them to maintain peace and refrain from taking the law into their own hands.

"...the mob became agitated, shouting "maro... mari nakho" (kill), which intensified the situation. The atmosphere grew tense and dangerous as the mob began pelting stones and beating both police and company officers with iron pipes," FIR stated.

After the message was dispatched to send additional police forces to control the mob, several IPS officers and their teams rushed to the scene. They attempted to calm the situation, but the mob had already turned violent and surrounded the police vehicle, attacking it.

In the FIR, Parmar has described that the mob "snatched a riot control hand grenade he had taken from the vehicle to manage the crowd. The mob then opened the grenade and threw it inside the vehicle, causing it to explode and leaving him seriously injured, with significant injuries to his hand".

The FIR also mentions that the mob caused extensive damage to the blast furnaces and steel melting shops at the AMNS plants, as well as to property at the C gate.

Several AMNS cars, contractors' vehicles, and five private cars, which the police had used to reach the spot during the emergency, were damaged by the riotous mob. In addition, they vandalised the AMNS company's office premises and CCTV cameras, among other assets.