RMG workers in Gazipur have attacked an Ansar camp and looted firearms and ammunition on the third day of their protests for a minimum monthly wage of Tk 8,000. At least, five Ansar personnel were injured in the attack.
The Ansar camp beside the factory of ‘Colossuses Apparels’ at the Vogra Bypass area was attacked by protesting workers around 8 am, said Md Nasir Ahmed, Ansar camp in-charge at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute.
According to the him, workers of different factories gathered outside ‘Colossuses Apparels’ and asked other workers to join. Angered by poor response, they vandalised the factory and attacked the Ansar camp. The RMG workers looted 8 rifles and 135 round of ammunition and set fire to them in front of the factory.
Four of the looted rifles were recovered later, Nasir said. Hundreds of RMG factories closed down for the day in Gazipur, Savar and Dhaka as workers hit the street demanding a minimum wage of Tk 8000.
Ten RMG workers were injured in police action. Several vehicles were damaged as the workers came out on the streets demanding their minimum wage. The workers’ protest disrupted vehicular traffic for around three hours on the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways in Gazipur and for around an hour on Dhaka- Aricha highway in Savar.
Traffic came to a standstill also in the capital’s Tejgaon-Gulshan Link road as the agitating workers blocked the road with burning tyres.
Workers from RMG factories in Boardbazar, Barabari, Vogra, Signboard and Telipara and other adjoining areas in Gazipur hit the streets to back their demand for minimum wage around 8am, Mobarak Hossain of Joydevpur Police station told journalists.
When police tried to persuade them to get off the roads, more workers joined the protests. Many workers started sit-in demonstrations near Tongi’s Sena Kalyan Bhaban , blocking traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway since 8am, Tongi police station’s OC Abul Kalam Azad said.
Around the same time, another group of workers started sit-in protests near ‘Diganta Sweaters’ factory in Naojor , blocking off the Dhaka-Tangail highway. “We are trying to persuade the workers to leave the highway,” OC Azad said.
Workers from fifty RMG factories had joined the protests and their numbers continued to swell on the highways. Eye-witnesses and police say the workers from ‘Interstoft’, ‘Tusuka Garments’ , ‘Interlink’ and ‘Sun Moon’ in Konabari, ‘Diganta Sweaters’ in Naojor, ‘Belmon Fashions’ and “Men’s Trust’ in Vogra , Tongi’s ‘Prince Apparels’ and ‘’Jamuna Apparels’ and ‘Sparrow Apparels’ from Gazipur, started the protests with others joining them .
Some of them hurled stones at vehicles, after which police chased them away. On Sunday too, the workers had hit the streets and blocked the highways to back their demand for a minimum monthly wage. Police had to lob tear-gas canisters to break up the protests after they had lasted for more than an hour.
On Saturday, the workers had also hit the streets in protest, alleging that their managements were not allowing them to attend a grand rally of the RMG workers in Dhaka. More than 50 factories had closed down during the protests.
Industry police SI Omar Farooque said vehicular movement on Dhaka- Aricha highway was disrupted after workers of various RMG factories located in the Savar Municipal areas hit the streets in protest since 8 am on Monday. Normalcy in the area returned around 10 am after the workers cleared the highway.
Meanwhile, workers and management of the Al Muslim Group prevented agitating workers of other factories from vandalising their factory where workers in the morning had resumed work as usual. However, the management later declared holiday to prevent any further untoward incident.
SI Omar said, “Situation at present is under control. Additional police have been deployed in the municipality area.”
The government set up a wage board in May to finalise the minimum monthly wage of the garment workers. The BGMEA, which represents the factory owners, have suggested the minimum monthly wage in the sector to be fixed at TK 3600.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI on Sunday appealed to the government to finalise a ‘just wage structure’ for the garment sector without any further delay .
“This should take care of the interests of the garment sector and address the larger question of workers welfare ,” said the apex trade body of the country in a statement. “It is the workers who are responsible for the growth in the garment sector.”-bdnews24.com
