Mayhem at Malibagh
Police charge truncheons on garment workers at Malibagh Chowdhurypara in the capital yesterday, inset. The workers barricade Rampura Road, demanding cent percent of their basic pay as festival bonus.Photo: STAR
At least 30 people, including seven policemen, were injured and about 40 vehicles vandalised in clashes between garment workers and the law enforcers in the city's Malibagh area yesterday.
The two-hour long violence caused total chaos in the area.
The employees of Islam Dresses Ltd, at Malibagh Chowdhuripara, were demanding 100 percent festival bonus on their basic pay.
Clashes erupted as police charged baton on the workers shortly after they put up roadblocks on the Malibagh DIT road at about 3:15pm creating huge traffic jam as the employer ruled out paying bonuses above 25 percent of the basic pay.
Chase and counter-chase continued for about two hours. The workers damaged at least 40 vehicles during the time, witnesses said.
Police said they lobbed eight tear-gas canisters to quell the violence.
A revolver of Sub-Inspector Habibur Rahman of Ramna Police Station went missing during the melee, said police.
The workers later forced into the factory, ransacking the interior.
Deploring the violence, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez said it is not mandatory for the employers to pay any bonus.
"It is their internal affairs if any factory owners give bonus to their employees," he told The Daily Star.
The agitating workers said the management, which gave them 25 percent festival bonus last year, agreed to pay them 100 percent this time after they declined yet another 25 percent offer.
They said they staged peaceful sit-in yesterday noon to realise their demand as the Eid drew nearer, and took to the street only after coming to know that the management went back on their promise.
Their street protests did not create any traffic jam as they made enough way for traffic movement, they claimed.
Things went wrong when the police swooped on the workers in consultation with the factory authorities, they alleged adding that they damaged the vehicles in protest.
Meantime, workers of Root Apparels Ltd, shut down in past August, blockaded the road in front of the factory at Uttarkhan in Uttara yesterday, demanding salary and overtime arrears.
They removed the roadblocks an hour later when the factory management agreed to pay them off.
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