Riot police have been deployed in a north-eastern Chinese city following anti-corruption protests by more than 2,000 unemployed textile workers, a rights monitoring group has reported.

The demonstrators blocked a major railway line and cut off traffic during days of protests that started on 4 December, according to New York-based China Labor Watch.

We want to live, we want to work, we want to eat

Protesters' banners

More than a dozen protesters were arrested on Saturday in the city of Jiamusi, in northern Heilongjiang province.

Hundreds of workers have continued to gather outside the city's police headquarters to demand the release of more than 10 people still being held, China Labor Watch said.

The demonstrators have accused officials at their bankrupt textile plant of embezzling their social security payments.

"We want to live, we want to work, we want to eat," read some of the protesters' banners.

Thousands of unemployed workers have held protests this year, particularly in the north-eastern "rust belt", over unpaid wages, pensions and corruption at struggling state-owned firms.

Economic reforms mean China can no longer bail-out uncompetitive state firms. Workers who used to be guaranteed wages, housing and health care are suddenly being left with little or nothing.

Earlier this year hundreds of laid-off oil field and factory workers held protests in the north-eastern cities of Daqing and Liaoyang demanding better government support.