"Gangsters" beat striking migrant workers in China

BEIJING, July 2 (Reuters) Hundreds of armed men clashed with about 300 migrant workers on strike against a power company in southern China, injuring 11, state media reported today.

The migrants, who had stopped work at the end of last week to demand four months' of unpaid wages, accused the owner of the company in Heyuan city, Guangdong province, of paying 200 to 300 people to attack them.

''The first batch of about 50 gangsters came with spades in their hands, and the second batch had axes, steel pipes and sabres, and there were more behind them,'' the official Xinhua news agency quoted one worker as saying.

A Heyuan city government spokesman told Xinhua that one of the workers was in critical condition.

Rights groups say China's estimated 200 million migrant workers - who in recent years have flocked from the vast, poor countryside to the booming cities - often lack health care, may have their pay withheld and are vulnerable to exploitation.

Amnesty International criticised the government in a recent report for not doing enough to protect migrant workers from the widespread and institutionalised discrimination they face.

Xinhua said police had detained four employees of Fuyuan Hydropower Development Co. after the incident.

However, the Heyuan city spokesman denied that there had been a mass assault, saying it involved about 30 migrant workers and other company staff.

Local media denounced the incident in unusually strongly worded editorials, alleging collusion between the power firm and local government officials, and drawing parallels with the recent furore over forced labour in brick kilns in the north.

REUTERS RN VV1544