BANGLADESH NEWS
The readymade garment belt at Ashulia turned into a battlefield yesterday with production remaining suspended in more than 300 factories, as several thousand garment workers clashed with police for a third straight day.
At least 100 people, including 10 policemen, were injured in the four-hour sporadic clashes. Agitating workers ransacked around 20 factories and vandalised some 100 vehicles.
Agitating workers staged demonstration, putting blockades on Dhaka-Tangail Highway at Narasinghapur halting traffic for about four hours since 8:00am.
The clash erupted around 8:30am when the police charged baton to disperse the agitators.
It all began on Monday when about 4,500 workers of Artistic Design Ltd, a packaging factory of Ha-Meem Group owned by FBCCI President AK Azad, took to the streets around 9:00am that day demanding a raise in their wages.
Thousands of workers from other factories in the area joined them, forcing the authorities to suspend production in more than 100 factories.
However, following two days of clashes, the authorities at a meeting with the labour minister and labour leaders on Tuesday afternoon decided to resume production from yesterday.
But the authorities of Ha-Meem Group and police beat up at least 30 workers of Express Washing and Dyeing, another sister concern of Ha-Meem Group, around 8:00pm on Tuesday, a number of workers alleged.
Moreover, when workers of Artistic Design Ltd came to their factor around 8:00am yesterday, they found it locked, prompting them to take to the streets, witnesses said.
Later, workers of all the other factories joined them, demanding action against those involved in torturing their colleagues and a pay rise, which they had been demanding since Monday.
Police baton-charged, fired 135 rubber bullets and 33 teargas and used water cannons to disperse the workers, who retaliated with brickbats, Fayezul Kabir, deputy director of Industrial Police, told .
Asked about police action on some workers on Tuesday night, Industrial Police Deputy Director Fayezul Kabir said police were forced to take action as the workers of washing unit and dyeing unit were locked in clashes inside the factory.
"They were fighting as one group wanted to join work while another group opposed it", he said, adding: "Then police had to charge baton to disperse them."
Around 3,000 law enforcers, including Industrial Police, Dhaka district police, Armed Police Battalion and Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in the area.
The agitating workers left the streets only when the district administration announced around 12:30pm that the prime minister herself was looking into the matter and that she asked the workers to calm down, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, factory owners in the area yesterday again decided to reopen their units from today upon the assurance that there would be no damage to their factories.
The decision came from a tripartite meeting between the government, owners and labour leaders chaired by Labour and Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.
A three-member committee was formed at the meeting to look into the cause of frequent clashes in the garment sector, including the last three days' violence.
Brig Gen (retd) Mohammad Ali Mondal, director of the project in Ashulia of Ha-Meem Group, on Tuesday told that the workers wanted a raise between Tk 1,500 and 2,000.
Currently, a garment worker gets between Tk 3,000 and 5,500 a month.
Mohammad Ali, however, said the issue of pay hike could not be decided by a single company. The issue must be resolved through discussion among all the stakeholders, including the government.
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