At least seven workers were arrested and more than a dozen police officers and workers were injured during the violent removal of a blockade erected by employees of Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) on Federal Highway 57, at kilometer 172, in the municipality of Castaños. The blockade caused long lines of vehicles and disruptions on the Monclova-Saltillo stretch.
The events occurred Monday morning on the Mexico-Piedras Negras highway, when workers from Mexico’s largest integrated steel company, founded in 1942 in Monclova, Coahuila, set up a complete road closure as a pressure tactic to demand intervention from federal authorities.
The protest escalated into clashes after security forces advanced to remove the demonstrators, breaking through the human barricade after just over an hour of protest, and forcibly reopening the road. Police remained in the area to prevent further blockades.
The blockade was organized by AHMSA workers as an urgent appeal to the federal government in response to the prolonged crisis at Altos Hornos de México, a company that has been inactive for approximately 40 months and has been declared bankrupt for over a year, without a definitive solution in place for its employees.
Julián Torres, a union leader, told local media that during the operation there were clashes, injuries, and seven workers were arrested and taken to the Attorney General’s Office.
“Right now we’re here at the Attorney General’s Office. The State Government and the Ministry of the Interior have committed to releasing them to us later.”
“Our problem isn’t partisan. There are members of Morena, PRI, PAN, all kinds of parties here, but we’re not affiliated with any one party,” he stated.
The AHMSA Workers’ Labor Defense Group, a civil association, announced that it will hold meetings to define its next protest actions, following the events that occurred during the eviction. The organization maintains its position of continuing mobilizations until it obtains concrete answers to its demands: reactivating dialogue so that AHMSA can become productive again in Coahuila, or providing them with severance pay in accordance with the law.
Source: lasillarota
