Unemployed Workers Block Russian Highway

BARNAUL, Russia -- Some 300 laid-off construction workers have blocked a major highway in Russia's south-central Altai Krai in an effort to force local authorities to provide job relief, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Police later managed to force the demonstrators off the highway so that the flow of traffic could resume.

Two protesters were detained.

The action was organized by former and current workers of the Magistral Road Construction company, one of the biggest in the region.

About one-third of the company's employees have either been laid off or sent on long-term vacations this year.