At least 40 people were hurt as workers from three garment factories clashed with law enforcement personnel at different points in Ashulia Tuesday.
Sources said clashes broke out in the morning when workers of Matlar Apparels at Narsinghapur and a Setara Group unit at Berun took up positions in front of their respective offices a kilometer away from one another on the Abdullahpur-Baipail road. They were demonstrating for an increase in salary and quick implementation of the new wage board for readymade garments (RMG) workers.
The protesters put up barricades on the road, disrupting traffic movement for about half an hour. Clashes broke out around 9am as police tried to disperse them with a baton-charging, leaving at least 10 people injured.
The authorities declared their respective factories closed for the day for fear of further unrest.
In another incident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, around 30 people were reportedly injured in a clash with police as workers from a nearby garment factory blockaded the road after finding their office closed.
In an unscheduled move, factory management declared yesterday a holiday, in the wake of a disruptive demonstration the day before, sources said.
Ashulia police station Inspector (Investigation) Mostafa Kamal said the workers of Medlar Apparels smashed vehicles on the highway as part of their protest, but police drove them off with batons.
Several workers, however, claimed police threw teargas shells in their direction, injuring at least 30 people in the process.
No one from the factory's management was available for comment.
On Monday, thousands of workers of a factory of Ha-Meem Group had blockaded the Dhaka-Tangail highway and clashed with police, demanding a minimum wage of Tk8,000 and “protection against attacks by outsiders” apparently hired by their employers.
They also demanded wages for the three days that their factory were closed from May 13- 16, due to labour unrest following the suicide attempt of a female colleague.
The workers of Medlar Apparels Limited reportedly joined their demonstration and both factory authorities declared Monday and yesterday as holidays.
Earlier, all factories in Ashulia had been closed for three days following protest demonstrations by the workers. The factories reopened last Friday.