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From Daily Kos:

The story of thousands of workers going on to street to protest unfair treatment in a company closing for two days on May 12 and 13 in Nanjing, has finally made onto the internet. The government mobilized more than 1,500 police and sealed off several streets in order to contain the protest. There has been no report of the protest in the media.

Update: h/t to LaughingPlanet for an English link of the story in Taiwan media.

Nanjing Huafei Color Display System Co., Ltd. is (or was, before its bankruptcy) a joint venture between the state-owned Huadong Electronics and Philips Electronics, and has been one of the major manufacturers of color CRT displays. Its business has been seriously hurt by the rise of the flat-panel displays. After declaring bankruptcy, it laid off all of its workers by paying 2,960 yuan (about $450 USD) per year worked as severance pay. This amount was apparently several times lower than the prevailing rate in the industry.

The workers were unable to find a channel to negotiate a better deal. On May 12, they marched onto the street, led by the company CEO(!). Police were immediately deployed to disperse the protesters and the two sides clashed. Several people were said to have been injured, and some were arrested. The media has been banned from reporting the protest, and any posts on the web about the protest have been deleted immediately.

The protesters are mounting a cat-and-mouse game on the web in order to get the words out and seek wider support. Today the message finally broke through the blockade and has spread quickly on the web.

Whether this could be the beginning of the jasmine revolution in China, or the authorities will be able to clamp down once more, remains to be seen.

Below are a couple of pictures the protesters were able to smuggle out.