Gurugram, April 10 -- A wage protest at Gurugram's IMT Manesar industrial hub turned violent on Thursday, leaving at least 22 people injured - including eight police officers - and four factories ransacked after clashes broke out between workers and police. Police said stone-pelting forced them to act; workers said they were charged without warning. The unrest, building since Monday across multiple factories, erupted when, police officials said, workers at two adjacent plants in Sector 4 attempted to block the main road in defiance of prohibitory orders issued the previous day barring gatherings of five or more people carrying weapons. Assistant commissioner of police (Manesar) Virender Saini, who was among the injured, said police moved to clear the road when workers turned on them. "We tried to stop them from blocking the traffic when they turned violent and started stone pelting. Police retaliated, after which clashes took place," he said. Saini sustained multiple bruises and cuts; a constable suffered a grievous leg injury. One police motorcycle was set on fire and four other vehicles - including those belonging to the in-charges of two police stations - were wrecked. Workers who fled a police lathi-charge subsequently barged into at least four factories, damaging cars, glass walls and machinery and ransacking management offices, a security guard at one of the sites said. Officials of Modelama Exports Private Limited, one of the vandalised factories, declined to comment. Police said social media posts - circulated against the backdrop of a central government-mandated minimum wage revision under new labour laws - and WhatsApp exchanges had stoked the violence. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Manesar) Prabina P said 18 people - including women - had been detained for questioning on the basis of CCTV footage. "Right now, the situation is peaceful. A large contingent of police force has been deployed in several areas of IMT Manesar including at the factories where protests took place. The deployment will continue till further orders," she said. The role of social media in inciting workers was being probed, she added. Police said at least 70 to 100 unidentified suspects were booked in an FIR on charges of damaging government property, rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing public servant for discharge of duty at IMT Manesar police station late Thursday. The dispute has its origins in a strike the previous week at a Japanese automobile manufacturing firm, which was resolved after management agreed to raise wages in line with legal requirements and skill-based categories. Workers at six other factories then walked out on Monday; by Wednesday, the unrest had spread to 23 firms, prompting the district administration's prohibitory orders. On Thursday, workers said promised pay revisions remained elusive or were accompanied by hidden cuts. Mohammad Shamshad, a worker at a garment manufacturing and export firm, said management had announced a wage increase effective April 1 and pasted a notice at the factory entrance on Thursday to pacify agitating workers, but the printout carried no authorised signature and workers later learnt their overtime pay was being simultaneously reduced. "Police arrived by that time to chase everyone, which further fuelled everyone's anger," he said. Amit Kumar, an operator at an automobile sensor manufacturing firm, said a skilled worker holding an ITI diploma was still being paid only Rs.11,200 a month. "Even after announcements by the central and state governments about increasing minimum wages as per workers' skill category, the factory management had not taken any action to revise the pay structure," he said. His colleague Praveen Kumar, who has physical disabilities, said police assaulted workers indiscriminately, sparing neither workers like him nor women. "They did not spare me even after I showed my disability ID card. At least eight to ten of our colleagues were injured," he said. Another colleague, Pradyuman Kashyap, said he too was injured in what he described as an unprovoked lathi-charge. Abid Ali, a worker at another garment factory near the violence site, said the situation deteriorated without warning. "Commotion started all of a sudden when police reached the spot and lathi-charged. Everyone started running and irate workers barged inside the factory and vandalised cars and ransacked the offices," he said. Not all factories saw violence. Kaushal Sinha, general manager of Satyam Auto, where a protest took place on Saturday, said the demonstrating workers were largely unskilled and misled. "They were misguided by various sources. After their protest, we had a detailed interaction with them on Monday and told them about increasing the wages as per new labour laws. The protest ended and we started functioning at our 100% production capacity again," he said....