Workers in Surat's diamond industry demonstrated in the streets of the diamond hub on Saturday, demanding increased wages, indianexpress.com reports.

The protest followed a warning issued by the Diamond Workers Association (DWA) to the Surat Diamond Association (SDA) that the latter had until January 2, 2011 to raise workers' wages by 30% or face a strike.

However, according to the Times of India, many of Surat's diamond workers do not support the call for a strike, or "bandh" as the action is known in India, and continued working as usual on Saturday. The Times quoted SDA President Dinesh Navadiya as saying that a few people from outside the diamond industry were "trying to create disturbances."

Earlier this month, Navadiya said that Surat's diamond companies were understaffed by some 25% after hundreds of thousands of diamond workers lost their jobs when the global financial crisis hit the diamond trade. Navadiya said that many of the industry's workers had moved to other sectors, such as textiles, and that the diamond business would have to "lure them back" with increased wages.