13 August 1937: Mauritius strike massacre

On this day, 13 August 1937, striking workers were massacred at the Union Flacq Sugar Estate in Mauritius. Primarily Indian labourers on sugar plantations on the island, then a British colony, had been organising for better pay, and police were being used to intimidate workers and break strikes.
Workers on the Union Flacq estate were unhappy about low pay, poor quality food rations and inadequate hospital treatment. They went on strike, and on August 13, strikers were violently attacked by police, killing four and wounding six.
In response to the killings, protesters set fire to sugarcane fields, and protests continued around the island for two weeks. Following a Commission of Enquiry into the incident, the British colonial government legalised labour unions, and set up an official framework for collective bargaining between workers and employers.
More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/7741/mauritius-strike-massacre

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