A female garment worker died and several others sustained injuries in clashes with police as RMG workers continued protests for a hike in the minimum wage.
Anjuara Begum, 24, a sewing machine operator at Islam Garments, was declared dead after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition. She had been injured during a clash in the morning.
Jamal Uddin, supervisor of a garment factory, had also been injured in the clash and was undergoing treatment at the emergency department of the same hospital, Inspector Bacchu Miah of DMCH police outpost said.
In a statement, the US on Wednesday condemned the recent violence against workers in Bangladesh protesting over the minimum wage, as well as the criminalization of legitimate worker and trade union activities.
RMG workers have been holding demonstrations for around two weeks demanding their minimum wage be set at Tk23,000. The government on Tuesday announced that the new minimum wage would be Tk12,500, a figure workers’ unions would reject.
Outraged by the decision, garment workers from different factories protested in different areas of the city after 9:30am Wednesday, reportedly vandalizing vehicles and setting tyres on fire on the streets. Police attempted to disperse the protestors with rubber bullets, tear gas and flashbangs, but the protestors retaliated by hurling brickbats.
Konabari police station OC AKM Ashraf Uddin said the protesters had blocked several roads by setting tyres ablaze.
At least three injured workers received treatment at Konabari Popular Hospital and Konabari Clinic, while another seriously injured female worker was transferred to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital.
As many as 22 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed in Gazipur to bring the situation under control.
The situation in Gazipur calmed down from 12 noon till around 3pm, but began to become heated again after workers gathered and protested by blocking the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh Highways at various points. At least eight policemen were injured as the law enforcement agencies and workers demanding a pay raise clashed again in Gazipur.
The wrist of a policeman was blown away and four others were injured following an explosion of a flashbang inside an armoured personnel carrier (APC). The explosion took place during a clash with garment workers in the Naojor area on Dhaka-Tangail Highway around 3pm.
Following the flashbang explosion, the entire area became a battleground. Administration officials arrived at the spot along with the police, BGB and RAB members to bring the situation under control.
Rafiqul Islam, the residential medical officer of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital, said that the five injured policemen were brought to the hospital. They were identified as Bipul, 24, Ashikul, 27, Fuad, 28, Khorshed, 30, and Probir, 30.
Among them, the critically injured Fuad, Probir and Khorshed were shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for advanced treatment. Fuad had received an injury to his right arm.
A police source said the flashbang had detonated accidentally.
Additional Superintendent of Police Imran Ahmed of Gazipur Industrial Police said that in the afternoon the workers came down on the highways and protested and carried out vandalism in various areas. The traffic on both the highways was disrupted.
At that time, the angry workers threw stones and vandalized various factories on both sides of the highway. On receiving the information, industrial police and members from local police stations tried to control the situation by firing tear gas shells, rubber bullets and sound grenades.
Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) Commissioner Mahbub Alam confirmed that eight policemen were injured in clashes with workers Wednesday.
Among them, five people were injured in the clash in Naojor area in the afternoon and three were injured in the clash in the morning.
Our Gazipur correspondent, Raihanul Islam Akand, and DMCH correspondent, Aminul Islam Babu, contributed to this report.
