|
Home>News Center>Life | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Death sparks Chinese workers' protest in Mauritius
About 300 Chinese workers take to the street in Port Louis, capital of the Indian Ocean island country Mauritius early this week, chanting the slogan "Overwork leads to Chinese worker's death." The non-violence protest soon escalated into a confrontation between the Chinese workers and local police. The police fired tear gas and wielded clubs at angry protestors who, according to witnesses, had earlier thrown blocks at a police car. Several Chinese workers were badly injured during the melee. In the wee hours of March 7, a Chinese woman worker was found dead in her dormitory, with the cause of her death unknown. Her co-workers, also from China, attributed her sudden death to overwork and refused to hand her body to local police. "They often force us to work extra hours till midnight," said a Chinese worker joining the demonstration. Local employers of those Chinese workers refuted the claim, saying the Chinese workers voluntarily to work extra hours to earn more money. The spinning company, in which the dead worked, said the worker died in her sleep. Company officials were willing to compensate the family of the dead and arrange a funeral for her either back in China or in Mauritius. Most of the foreign labourers working in Mauritius are from China, according to governmental data, and about 90% earn their living in spinning and clothing factories.
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
