Police fire on glove protesters

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Police fired rubber bullets at factory workers and beat them with batons after strike in North Sumatra on Friday turned violent, leaving nine workers and two riot officers wounded.

Antara reported from Medan that dozens of employees of rubber glove factory PT Latexindo Toba Perkasa, held a demonstration in front of the factory to demand a minimum wage hike and the reinstatement of colleagues dismissed following a similar protest early this month.

Angered by what they said was the cool reaction of the company management, the workers later started to pelt the building windows with stones. They also tried to jump over the gate, which was closed from the morning.

"We had to use rubber bullets because the workers became violent," Medan Police chief Col. Nono Supriyono said on Saturday. Some officers were badly injured, he said.

A worker said one of her colleagues was shot in the leg.

The workers demanded a daily wage increase from the present Rp 1,400 to Rp 8,000, saying their current income was still below the regional minimum wage.

The company's head of human resources development Nur Salasan hinted the average monthly salary was above the Rp 174,000 minimum monthly wage.

The company which employs 685 workers agreed to increase workers' minimum wage to Rp 200,000 following their strike earlier this month. (prb)