Copper smelter workers at Khatunabad near Shahr-e Babak in Kerman province held an eight-day sit-in and work stoppage demanding permanent contracts and protesting the use of temporary contracts, layoffs and deferred payment of wages and benefits. On Saturday 24 January 2004 special police units sent to break up the sit-in opened fire, killing four workers and injuring more than forty, some critically. The unrest spread into Shahr-e Babak, where premises were attacked and shops closed in protest, and President Khatami later dispatched a team to investigate the riot of 24-25 January.