Dozens wounded in Bangladesh protests over arrests, low pay

DHAKA: More than 80 people were wounded across Bangladesh on Wednesday in clashes with police sparked by the arrest of three top opposition politicians charged with insulting Islam and demands by textile workers for a pay rise.

Supporters of Bangladesh's biggest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, fought with police in protest against the arrest of three of its leaders on charges of hurting Muslim religious sentiment.

Clashes occurred in at least half a dozen districts, including Brahmanbaria, some 150 km east of the capital. In Dhaka, Jamaat activists scuffled with police trying to disperse them from a court compound where the arrested leaders would likely to be taken, witnesses said. Police detained 20 activists at the court compound.

Police arrested the three top Jamaat leaders after another religious group, the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed a court case in March, saying they had compared the Jamaat party chief with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Police named the arrested leaders as Jamaat chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and another key party leader, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee.

Jamaat said around 25 other party members were detained by the police in overnight raids in various districts.

Protests over low pay



Police using clubs, tear gas and water cannon were also locked in street battles with textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wage. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 police officials, were injured.

The clashes, with workers erecting street barricades, pelting police with stones and attacking cars, were the second in as many weeks involving workers producing garments for global brands and earning wages well below the poverty line.

The violence took place three days after a one-day general strike called by opposition parties closed most businesses and prompted further confrontations between marchers and police.

Bangladesh garment factory workers currently earn a minimum monthly salary of 1,660 taka, and have demanded an increase of 300 per cent to 5,000 taka. Owners last week said they could pay no more than 3,000 taka a month.

Garments, Bangladesh's biggest export, account for more than 80 percent of the impoverished South Asian country's $15 billion in annual export earnings, according to Commerce Ministry data.