A clash broke out between RMG workers and police in Ashulia's Jamgora area when the workers tried to block Abdullahpur-Bypal road Saturday morning.
Police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets and also using water cannons to disperse the workers demonstrating for a hike in their wage.
A van driver was shot in the incident.
According to eyewitnesses, at around 8 am, workers from several factories began to assemble in the Jamgora area along the Tongi-Ashulia-EPZ road. Subsequently, clashes ensued when the workers threw bricks at the factories, leading the police to intervene and disperse them from the road.
During the confrontation, enraged workers moved into the streets and retaliated by hurling bricks at the police. In the ensuing chaos, a van driver was caught in the crossfire and sustained gunshot wounds. He was swiftly rescued and taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
Amirul Islam, the injured van driver, said: “I had gone to the sixth floor with another person. While I was there, the labour protest started. When the police fired at the workers, I got hit. Locals came to my rescue afterward.”
Riaz Uddin Ahmed Biplab, officer-in-charge of Dhaka District North Intelligence Police, clarified that when the workers attempted to descend onto the road in the morning, they were forcibly removed. Rubber bullets were fired, but no shots were aimed at individuals, he added.
Additional Superintendent of industrial police-1 Mahmud Nasser Jani explained that following the morning's factory opening in Ashulia, workers emerged from the facility and congregated on the streets. Upon police intervention to clear the road, clashes erupted. Presently, the situation has returned to normalcy.
