Workers fought pitched street battles with riot police in the manufacturing hub of Ashulia, north of Dhaka, as union officials rejected a government-backed pay hike as “insultingly low”.
“Over 20,000 workers walked off the job and many clashed with police, hurling stones and rocks. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them,” police inspector Nasir Ahmed told a news agency.
The unrest came as Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told “workers to accept the pay hike and return to work”, threatening tough action against those who disobeyed her orders.
“She has warned that no act of violence or sabotages will be tolerated in the key garment industry. The instigators will be brought to book,” her spokesman Mahbubul Haq Shakil said.
Rioters also burnt tyres, blocked a key road linking Dhaka with northern Bangladesh, attacked factories and forced police to run for cover, a news agency correspondent at the scene said.
The factories have announced a shutdown in response and “violence has ebbed but the situation is still tense”, Ahmed said.
Police said at least seven law-enforcers including Ashulia’s police chief were injured in the violence - all hit by rocks thrown by protesters while the English-language newspaper The Daily Star put the injury toll at around 100.
At least 10,000 workers also blockaded a key road in Narayanganj, south of Dhaka, a police constable said, adding the labourers were holding a peaceful protest amid a heavy police presence.
The protests come a day after violence erupted in a slew of locations across the Bangladeshi capital, prompting riot police to respond against the workers with baton charges and tear gas.
The workers looted and ransacked factories, set vehicles afire and smashed shops and cars, leaving a trail of devastation.
The protests are in response to the government’s announcement on Tuesday that the minimum monthly wage for garment workers would rise by 80 per cent to 3,000 taka (43 dollars) from 1,662 taka - the lowest industry salary worldwide.
Union leader Mosherafa Mish, who heads the Garment Workers Unity Forum and has been at the forefront of efforts to win better wages and working conditions for employees, called the pay hike “insultingly low”.
“The government should not intimidate the workers. The protests are a normal and spontaneous reaction to the government’s sham wage hike. They are holding protests because that’s the only way their voices can be heard,” she said.
She alleged police were seeking to intimidate union leaders with death threats, including against herself, and have raided some of their houses.
Walid Hossain, a spokesman of Dhaka police, said at least two union leaders and 25 workers had been detained for their alleged role in Friday’s violence. He denied that authorities had made any death threats against union leaders. “This is complete rubbish,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2010.
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