Baku-APA. Malaysian police have detained 44 Nepalese workers after about 500 migrant workers staged a protest to express their dissatisfaction over working conditions, a security official says, APA reports quoting Press TV.
The Nepalese workers were taken into custody early on Tuesday during a strike, which subsequently led to clashes with police, the local police chief in southern Johor State, Mohamad Idris Samsuri, said on Wednesday.
“The management and the police held talks to resolve the misunderstanding but it failed. The workers then turned violent and aggressive in the late evening. They burned part of the two-story factory producing hard-drives,” the official said, adding, “We had to use water cannons to disperse them but some retaliated by throwing stones and we were forced to fire tear gas.”
Around 125 police personnel, including members of the anti-riot section, were deployed at the factory to chase away the rioters, the police chief added.
Law enforcement has launched an investigation into the incident.
Idris said the operations of the factory have been suspended for an investigation into the cause of the rioting.
Malaysia stands as one of Asia’s major importers of foreign labor.
Foreign workers in Malaysia often complain about pervasive labor rights abuses in the workplace including poor working conditions.
Every year migrants who go to work in the domestic, construction and agricultural sectors of the Malaysian economy are subject to exploitation, torture and even shootings.
The government of Indonesia estimated in 2012 that there are 1.2 million migrants officially working in the country, with 800,000 working without the proper documentation.
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