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Riot police have been called in as a major industrial protest continued for a third day on Monday.

Workers on the MGT Power plant walked out on Thursday and Friday over concerns at safety standards at the facility.

Protesters returned on Monday before 6am, causing further disruption to traffic around the A66 close to Teesport.

The action was briefly called off at around 9.30am but resumed at 11am after unsuccessful talks between workers and management.

The resumption of the protest was met with a show of strength by police as a large number of officers descended on the site, including a significant number in riot gear.

The police helicopter was also used as part of the operation to move protesters. The road was reopened again shortly after 12pm.

Workers eventually left the site just before 1pm but pledged to resume the protest at 6am on Tuesday.

Cleveland Police called in back up from Durham to help managed the protests and warned it would take action against any criminal behaviour.

The force said: "Officers are facilitating the management of traffic and thank you for your patience while we deal with the incident.

"Any criminal action by or against protesters will not be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately."

The A1085 Trunk Road eastbound was also closed, with slow traffic backing up from the A174 to the A66.

(Image: Teesside Live)

It is not yet known how long the protests will last, but a spokesperson said on Friday that workers felt "unsafe".

Workers are complaining of poor safety conditions on site sparked by an incident involving a boiler.

A spokesman previously said: "The protest is about health and safety issues that the members of both unions believe are unsafe.

"It has been ongoing for a year on and off and it is believed that we are now in a situation that the lads feel it is unsafe for them to go to work.

"A safety incident that happened on Tuesday and we, the workforce do not feel safe enough to go back to work. Until it’s resolved we will be here.

"We are sorry for the community for the disruption but sometimes we have to take action we don’t want to take but we have been forced to because of unsafe actions on that site."

MGT Teesside confirmed the incident involved a boiler where a suspended load unexpectedly moved during installation.

(Image: evening gazette)

No one was injured and the area was quarantined, the company said, and as a further precaution all workers within the boiler were relocated to their mess cabins.

In a statement, the company said it was "sad" situation that "unofficial protests" had returned.

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