Turkey: Demonstrating workers met with police violence, dozens detained
Several employees of Turkish greenhouse company Agrobay were detained on Friday when they staged a demonstration for their rights outside the company's grounds in Turkey's western province of Izmir.
The Union of Agricultural Workers said in a tweet that women workers marched to the grounds after troops stopped their vehicles some 3 km from the company's offices.
Emeğimizi, sağlığımızı, ömrümüzü verdiğimiz Agrobay'ın önünde hakkımız olanı istiyoruz diye darp ediliyoruz!
— Tarım-Sen (@tarimsendikasi) September 15, 2023
Bizle birlikte yapılan müdahaleyi çeken herkes gözaltına alınıyor. Yaptıkları eziyeti saklamaya çalışıyorlar. Herkes görsün halimizi!#AgrobayHakkımızıVer pic.twitter.com/HONKZrarjM
The troops intervened almost immediately and many workers and reporters at the scene were violently detained in large numbers.
"Some friends have been taken to the hospital, we are unable to receive information about the number of detainees, and they don't even allow people to take images," the union said in another tweet.
A while later it said that "two buses of people have been detained."
Journalists Zeynep Kuray and Berkcan Zengin were among the detainees, video journalist Kazim Kizil said on Twitter.
Agrobay, supplier of chain retailers and a major exporter of tomato and yellow pepper, earlier dismissed dozens of workers over union membership. Around 40 dismissed workers staged a protest last Friday near the company's offices and they were detained for blocking a road to traffic.
