On 13 April 2021, police arrested 20 KCM contractor workers who were protesting poor conditions of service. One of the local political parties described the action taken by police against defenseless workers as "revolting" and asked the government to pay Konkola Copper Mines workers rather than beating and arresting them: “The Socialist Party in the Copperbelt strongly condemns the teargassing of, and attack against, hundreds of unarmed and poor miners by the Zambian police at Konkola Copper Mines in Chingola district,” party spokesperson Joseph Kangwa said. “These actions by men and women in uniform is revolting for the working people of Zambia. We blame the KCM management and the [President Edgar] Lungu government for this. The workers were just peacefully staging a protest to demand improvements in their working conditions."