Shiv Sena union storms magazine office, assaults employees

Mumbai, April 19 (IANS) Over 40 activists of the Shiv Sena-affiliated Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) Thursday vandalised the office of The Week magazine in south Mumbai and assaulted workers to protest sacking of an employee. Police have taken around 20 of the activists in custody.

"Three people were hurt in the attack. They (the union activists) assaulted our circulation manager Joji and demanded that he immediately reinstate an employee that was sacked by one of our distributors," the magazine's general manager S.K. Menon told IANS.

Menon said the distributor in question - Siddhivinayak Distributors - had first hired and then sacked an employee due to his lack of interest in work.

"The said employee had then approached the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena," he said, adding that the union refused to understand that the employee is not directly employed by the magazine.

Police, however, rushed to the spot immediately.

"The mob had come to protest the sacking of an employee. We have taken them into custody," a police official said.