SAVAR: Over 50 people were wounded, including 10 cops, in a fresh flare-up of violence in Ashulia industrial belt Monday as a standoff over a recommended pay hike took a turn for the worst crisis in the export industry.

Hordes of workers ran riot vandalizing some garment factories. They also blocked the busy Dhaka-Tangail highway nearby in the morning to press their demand for a minimum wage of Tk 5,000.

The clash took place after a day’s break following a fierce fighting in the area Saturday that had left more than 100 people, including 10 cops, injured.  At least 150 garment factories were shut down and about 50 vandalised that day.  

“As chaos reigned supreme over the industrial belt—throwing apparel export into an abyss of uncertainty--the marauders blockaded the road with burning tyres and timbers,” reports banglanews24.com.bd correspondent Jahidur Rahman.  

AT least 50 factories were shuttered anew in the wake of fierce fighting, police and owners said.  

Witnesses said workers from Anonto Garments, after ransacking their factory at 9 am, attacked neighboring Ha-Meem Group factory at Narsinghapur at noon.

At the time, Ha-Meem group declared the factory closed—an action that looked like stirring up a hornets’ nest. Some 10,000 workers of the Ha-Meem Group factory came out and joined in the agitation.

An official of Ha-Meem Group told BanglaNews24.com.bd that the owners of the factory talked to their workers trying to pacify them. The workers later took to street as the authorities left the office declaring the lockout, he added.  

Police poured hot water on demonstrators to disperse them. The belligerent workers pelted the cops with brickbats and police retaliated by firing teargas shells and rubber bullets. The clash left over 50 injured, including 10 policemen.

The ongoing labour unrest, with many factories still remaining shut in Ashulia industrial area, poses a threat to the country’s export-oriented readymade garment sector.

BDST 1616 hrs June 21, 2010
Jahidur/RS/SMS/MUA