Garment factory workers in Bangladesh’s Dhaka and Gazipur cities reportedly staged protests on Sunday over their longstanding demand for better wages. The protests turned violent as demonstrators allegedly torched a police vehicle and attacked police personnel.
Police vehicle torched, factories shut
Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with violence in Dhaka, Bangladeshi news outlet The Daily Star reported. The owners’ representatives on the board are ABM Shamsuddin, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and Asif Ayub, joint secretary-general of the Bangladesh Employers’ Federation, Prothom Alo reported. In Mirpur area of Dhaka, protesters reportedly torched a police vehicle after a clash erupted between police and protesters. “Nineteen people have been detained so far. Multiple cases will be filed over the burning of a police vehicle and attacks on police personnel,” Hasan Mohammad Nasher Rikabdar, deputy commissioner of Mirpur division, was quoted as saying by The Daily Star . A garment factory warehouse storing waste fabric and a pickup van were reportedly set on fire in Gazipur. The wage board is headed by Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman as its chairman.
The workers also blocked Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur as they demanded a minimum monthly wage of BDT 30,000 (nearly INR 23,000). The workers left the roads around 2:00pm following efforts by police and locals who persuaded them to end the blockade. At least 80 factories were shut in Dhaka and Gazipur amid the unrest over wages, Bangladeshi news outlet Prothom Alo reported.
