ISTANBUL, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish police on Saturday detained nearly 500 workers who stopped working the previous day on Istanbul's new airport to protest against poor working conditions.

The representatives of several labor unions released a joint statement, saying the police picked up the workers from their dormitories at the construction site and transferred them to police stations by buses. The unions described the detentions as "unlawful" and "inhuman."

Thousands of workers on Friday launched a protest against unsafe working conditions which have caused multiple deaths and injuries since the construction of the new airport began in May 2015.

On Saturday evening, a group of people gathered in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul to show solidarity with the workers, demanding their release.

Police detained nearly 40 of them, including a photojournalist, after dispersing the crowd by tear gas, according to press reports.

More than 35,000 workers have been working on the new airport, which is slated to be inaugurated at the end of October.

The authorities admitted that over 30 workers had died since the start of the construction, but workers argued that the true number was much higher.