Women paid 62p an hour in Mauritius to make ‘feminist’ T-shirts have been beaten by police during protests over pay and conditions at their ‘sweatshop’ factory.

Dozens of workers at the factory – exposed by The Mail on Sunday for its low wages and prison-like accommodation for women making the ‘This Is What A Feminist Looks Like’ T-shirts – have been sacked and deported for staging what bosses called ‘an illegal strike’.

At the end of a peaceful three-day protest, Bangladeshi migrant workers – who produce clothes for Whistles, Topshop and Next – were surrounded by officers who charged at them, hitting out with batons, before dragging the screaming women away.

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Beaten: Workers were treated roughly by police during protests over pay and conditions at their ‘sweatshop’ factory

As many as 1,800 workers at the Compagnie Mauricienne de Textile (CMT) factory went on strike last week about their pay, harsh treatment, food and concerns about a missing worker.

Now 69 of the women have been deported to Bangladesh and scores more now fear for their jobs.

Whistles, in partnership with feminist charity The Fawcett Society and Elle magazine, enlisted the factory to make the £45 T-shirts last year and they were proudly worn by Labour leader Ed Miliband, his deputy Harriet Harman and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

After this newspaper revealed the female workers’ poor pay and living conditions – they sleep 16 to a room – Whistles and The Fawcett Society defended the factory, claiming it conformed to ‘ethical standards’.

Exposed: The 62p-an-hour factory where 'This is what a feminist looks like' T-shirt was made

But last night, Whistles and Topshop announced investigations, while Next cancelled its orders from the factory.

A Labour spokesman condemned the violence. One Bangladeshi worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: ‘Police charged at us, beating us with sticks.

We started screaming and running. They hit us and dragged some of the women away. I’m really scared I’ll be deported as well. If I lose my job, my family will be ruined.’

Fighting back tears, she lifted the lid on life inside the factory, revealing that employees were told by bosses to lie to auditors about their working conditions or face being sacked.

She said they are often forced to work from 7.30am until 11pm to meet unreasonable targets of making 300 garments a day. She added that the women, who work six-day weeks, are not paid for all of their overtime.

The strike was sparked after factory worker Nazma Aktear went missing on March 26 following a hospital visit.

Her colleagues grew increasingly worried when bosses failed to provide information about her whereabouts.

They downed tools on Tuesday. The day after, as protests escalated, police and government ministers ordered the employees back to work.

A dedicated band of 200 women continued the strike on Thursday despite Miss Aktear being found.

Bosses paraded a frail Miss Aktear in front of the protesters and repeated orders for them to return to work. But the workers, who receive less than the island’s living wage, refused and the violence ensued.

Unrest: A striker is led away by police at the Mauritius factory amid unrest of pay and conditions

Violence: Dozens of workers at the factory have been sacked and deported following the strike at the Mauritius factory where police are accused of brutality

Following our exposé in November, Next met with factory bosses and ‘identified a number of specific shortcomings that required addressing by CMT’ and last week it carried out another inspection and found ‘there are still some outstanding areas of concern’.

It has now cancelled its most recent order and future orders pending an inquiry.

A Whistles spokesman said: ‘We are deeply concerned by reports of recent events concerning the CMT factory. We are investigating these allegations as a matter of urgency.’

A spokeswoman for Topshop owner Arcadia said: ‘We have started a full and detailed investigation into the reported incident.’

A spokesman for Miliband and Harman said the T-shirts were ‘a campaign run by Elle and The Fawcett Society to promote feminism and we were happy to support it’.