A tensed situation prevailed throughout the day in and around the Tuba Garments yesterday, as the police allegedly tried to disrupt demonstrations by the workers who had been on a hunger strike since July 28.
In the early hours of the day, the police allegedly locked the main entrances to Tuba Garments – located at the multi-storey building of Hossain Market in Uttar Badda. The move to lock the gates came allegedly after a meeting was held between ruling-party-backed labour leaders and the police.
Md Monjur Moin, organiser of Garments Shramik Trade Union, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have seen that Sub-Inspector Shahjahan of Badda police station put the locks at the main gate around 3am, keeping over 950 workers confined inside.”
Sabnam Hafiz, secretary of Garments Sramik Mukti Andalan, also claimed: “Police locked the main gate after holding a meeting with the leaders of Sramik League in the early hours of Wednesday to stop the ongoing demonstration.”
As the gates remained locked, the trapped workers – who continued their hunger strike demanding outstanding wages and Eid bonuses – were forced to collect their medicine and saline with the help of ropes.
However, later in the day, the police themselves broke the locks on the gates and entered the building at around 1:30pm. At the time, police personnel also allegedly drove some workers away from the building.
The police also charged truncheons on leaders from left-leaning parties when they protested the locking of the gates and tried to enter the building.
Witnesses said police used truncheons on Gano Sanghati Andolon Coordinator Jonayed Saki when he tried to enter the building with around eight more leaders. Labour leaders from ruling party-backed organisations were also seen to assist the police in the assault, witnesses told the Dhaka Tribune.
Saydia Gulrukh, a member of Activist Anthropologists, a group working with the lists of missing garments workers, told the Dhaka Tribune: “In the morning, six others and I went to the [Tuba] factory for supplying medicine, but the police did not allow us to go inside. Police charged truncheons and detained two of us. The detainees are Kamrul Hassan, a freelance photographer, and Sabnam Hafiz, a political worker.
“Later, we stood outside the Holland Centre near the factory, where labour leaders from Sramik League suddenly assaulted us. Police observed everything from across the road but took no action,” she said.
On the other hand, Babul, a worker of the Tuba Garments, alleged that a garment staff seized the workers identity cards when they were coming out of the building on Tuesday night.
“Meherul, a staff of the quality maintenance department of the garments, seized my identity card so that I cannot take my due wages,” Babul claimed.
Meanwhile, the workers also threatened to stage countrywide demonstrations on Thursday and Friday to press home their demands. Although the workers were supposed to hold a press conference at around 5pm, the media was barred from entering the building by the law enforcers at the site.
As an alternative method, the workers used loudspeakers from the sixth floor of the building to make their announcement. They also dropped notes carrying a message signed by Moshrefa Mishu, president of Garment Workers Unity.
When the announcement was being made with loudspeakers, the police also turned on their sirens on high volume, in an attempt to drown out the sound of the statement being made from the factory floor.
The workers warned of sterner protests from August 9 unless their demands were met by Thursday, adding that their hunger strike would continue. They also demanded that they would take their outstanding wages only if given by the Tuba Group owner Delowar Hossain, who was released from jail on Tuesday.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Gulshan division Mahabubur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “We did not allow anyone inside the factory in order to avoid any untoward situation. It is, however, not true that police barred the workers from coming out of the building.”
Responding to the allegation of putting the main entrance under lock and key, he said: “Police did not lock the main gate. Rather, they broke the lock.”
Meanwhile, Ain O Salish Kendra issued a statement condemning the police for locking the main gate of the factory and the alleged beating of the workers by hired goons.