At least 15 workers from a garments factory were injured when police charged batons on the workers, who were staging a demonstration demanding their dues and salaries, in the capital's Hatirpul area on Sunday afternoon.
Several hundred workers of TS Fashions in Hatirpul took to the streets and put blockades on the road around 6pm, as the workers had not been paid within the scheduled time after 5pm. The agitated workers put blockades on the busy road for an hour, causing a severe traffic gridlock in the area.
Police then dispersed the workers by charging batons on them.
"Although we were told earlier that the authorities would pay us by 5pm, they failed to do so," said Nazma Ahkter, a worker of TS Fashions.
She said when they asked the authorities, they were told that the money, which was drawn from a bank, had been snatched away by a gang of muggers in the capital's Paribagh.
"As the news of the money being snatched was spread among the workers, we came down to the road," she said.
Kalabagan police station officer-in-charge Enamul Haq said they resorted to charging batons to free the roads.
A gang of muggers allegedly took Tk3m from Mozammel Haque, the owner of TS Fashions, soon after he drew the amount from a branch of a commercial scheduled bank in the capital's Paribagh area.
Shahbagh police arrested Mozammel's driver Azizul Huq in this connection.
However, Enamul Huq said he had not yet confirmed the mugging.
