CHENNAI: CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan condemned the State police on Wednesday for denying permission for the central trade unions to hold a protest at Valluvarkottam in solidarity with the striking workers of the Samsung factory.

In a statement, he said that after denying permission for the protest, a large number of police were deployed to prevent the members of various trade unions including CITU, AITUC and HMS from reaching the protest venue.

The police also detained CITU state president A Soundararajan, its general secretary G Sugumar and AITUC state general secretary Radhakrishnan. They were released later. Samsung workers have been protesting since September 9.

“The action by the police is completely against the law. The Constitution provides for the right to form a union. Denying it, arresting peaceful protestors and disrupting protests are unconstitutional acts,” Balakrishnan said.