Garment workers clash with police on Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road, many injured
On the second day of a movement demanding a wage increase, garment workers clashed with police on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road, with chases and counter-chases between the two sides. Workers threw brickbats at the police. Police used baton charges and fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. Many people, including police, were injured.
The incident took place at around 4:45pm on Tuesday (November 3) in the Jalkuri area of Siddhirganj on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road. The situation was brought under control by 7pm.
Police and local sources said that at around 3pm, workers suddenly blocked the road and began protesting in the Shibu Market area of the Link Road. When police members tried to stop them with barricades, the workers broke through and came down onto the main road to demonstrate. The agitated workers set fires at places on the road and chanted various slogans holding sticks. Traffic in the surrounding area came to a halt.
When police tried to move the workers off the road, the workers threw brickbats at the police members. The police then baton-charged them and fired tear gas shells. At one stage the two sides clashed. Fifteen to twenty garment workers, along with one police member, were injured. The names and identities of the injured were not available.
Md Shahin Ahmed, district president of the Garments Workers Trade Union, said the workers had blocked the road yesterday demanding a wage of 30,000 taka. As the workers’ demands were not met, they blocked the road again today for a second day of protest. However, he said he did not know exactly how many workers were injured in the clash with police.
Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police Tarek Al Mehedi said the protesters threw brickbats at the police. Police later fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. Several people, including police, were injured.
Earlier on Monday, garment workers had blocked the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road with the same demand. Traffic was stopped for about four hours from noon yesterday. At around 4:15pm, the workers lifted the blockade after assurances from the local member of parliament, the district administration and the police. The situation then returned to normal.
On Monday the workers put forward a five-point demand. The demands include setting the minimum wage at 30,000 taka, introducing a rationing system in all garment factories, implementing trade union rights, justice for the killing of workers including worker Amjad Hossain Kamal, and stopping layoffs without cause and fully implementing the labour law.
On Tuesday morning, normal operations were running at factories in Narayanganj’s Panchabati BSCIC industrial area and the Adamjee EPZ in Siddhirganj, and workers had joined work. However, at around 3:15pm in the afternoon, workers came out onto the road again in the Katherpool area and the situation became heated once more.
After Monday’s blockade by the workers, District Commissioner Raihan Kabir had said five platoons of BGB would be deployed in the district to strengthen security. Of them, three platoons were in reserve and two platoons were on patrol. Members of the law enforcement agencies took positions at the scene to bring Tuesday’s situation under control.
