Ready-made garment workers were locked into a clash with police yesterday in the capital’s Badda and Rampura areas, leaving around 20 people, including a policeman, injured.
In both the cases, the RMG workers staged demonstrations demanding their due pay.
In Badda, several hundred workers of Tuba Garments took to the streets around 11am to stage their demonstration. They agitated workers blocked the roads, halting the traffic in the area.
They clashed with police as police initiated to drive them away from the streets around 12pm, according to witnesses and police sources.
Police resorted to charge batons and lobbed tear gas canisters to disperse the agitating workers, who retaliated by throwing brick chips at police.
The incident resulted in severe traffic congestion in the area as well as panic among the commuters, the witnesses said.
Shefali Begum, a worker at Tuba Garments, said the factory authorities had not paid their dues in the past three months despite their repeated demands.
“When we took to the streets to press home our demands, police drove us away from the road by charging batons,” she said. “If we do not get our due payment, our agitation will continue.”
Inspector MA Jalil, officer-in-charge of Badda police station, said the traffic movement on the roads in the area remained suspended for a while due to the workers putting up the blockades during protest.
He, however, claimed that the workers left the road free for vehicular movement after police assured the workers of meeting their demands immediately.
Similar incident took place in Rampura, where the workers of Access Garments staged angry demonstrations and blocked the roads in demand of their due wages, causing severe suffering to commuters.
However, police scattered the workers by charging batons at them.