At least nine detained protesting at blast-hit Turkey steel plant

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Turkey's security forces on Friday detained at least nine people protesting a ban on bringing mobile phones into a steel plant hit by a deadly explosion this week, a workers'…

Turkey's security forces on Friday detained at least nine people protesting a ban on bringing mobile phones into a steel plant hit by a deadly explosion this week, a workers' collective said.

Workers arriving for their morning shift at the HABAS steel factory were told to leave their mobile phones at a security checkpoint, said a spokesman for the Aegean Workers' Collective.

"We want to live with dignity," the protesters shouted outside the factory, in Aliaga, a district known for shipbreaking and heavy industry near the western port city of Izmir.

The factory was rocked by a major explosion on Monday that killed 19 people -- including one missing person who is presumed dead, Ali Ekber Tali of the Turkish Metal Workers' Union told AFP.

The mobile phone ban at the plant was introduced by HABAS chairman Mehmet Rustu Basaran, who has been placed under house arrest as part of the investigation into the blast, said Oktay Turk of the Collective.

"At least nine people were detained" protesting the ban -- himself included, Turk told AFP.

The Collective alleged the phone ban was aimed at preventing workers from sharing images from inside the plant.

An AFP photographer at the scene said tensions were high, with security forces deployed around the factory and blocking some roads leading to the site.

Later in the day, some 200 people including workers from neighbouring factories in Aliaga gathered outside the plant, some unfurling banners.

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