Beginning 11 March 2002 several thousand workers of the bankrupt Liaoyang Ferro-Alloy Factory marched along Democracy Road in Liaoyang to the city government headquarters, demanding an investigation into the malpractice and misappropriation that had bankrupted the plant; workers from roughly twenty other Liaoyang factories joined them. China Labour Bulletin recorded more than 30,000 workers at the high point of the movement, while Human Rights Watch counted some 17,000 on 11-12 March. The authorities detained worker representative Yao Fuxin on 17 March 2002 and three more representatives on 20 March; protests demanding their release continued through the year and both Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were subsequently convicted and imprisoned.