Armed police had been deployed to stop thousands of steel workers from protesting against the takeover of their factory by a private company in Henan province, China Daily reported Saturday.

Workers of the Linzhou Steel Corporation (LSC) in Anyang City have been demonstrating and patrolling the factory gates along with their supporters for the past four days, according to the Saturday edition of China Daily.

The 30-year-old State-owned LSC, with 5,122 employees, was sold to a private firm without the workers' consent on July 24.

Massive layoffs followed the takeover, with the workers getting only 1,090 yuan (159.5 U.S. dollars) for each year of service they had put in.

The workers allege that attempts to privatize the factory had continued on for years, and in the end it was sold off for less than its value.

Most of the workers see the privatization as a move to marginalize and "sell them out" to fill the pockets of the rich and the powerful, according to China Daily.

Source:Xinhua