Marauders set fire to or ransacked numerous factories and cars as industrial riot spread from Savar through the apparel hubs in the capital and its outskirts Tuesday in a dangerous backlash as another worker died following Monday’s EPZ mayhem.
Several factories torched, 25 vehicles vandalized in fresh violence
Workers put up barricades on roads, stage violent protest after bullet injured worker dies following police firing.
Savar garment workers call strike today.
Marauders set fire to or ransacked numerous factories and cars as industrial riot spread from Savar through the apparel hubs in the capital and its outskirts Tuesday in a dangerous backlash as another worker died following Monday’s EPZ mayhem.
The government called out paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles troops to quell the violent rioting, official sources said.
Medical sources gave the identity of the victim as Rana, 20, who died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital early Tuesday, stoking up the unrest prevailing since Monday’s clashes.
Another worker died Monday night. They were among over 100 people, including workers and law-enforcers, injured in massive violence in and outside Dhaka Export Processing Zone at Savar.
“The capital looked like caught in a deadlock as the enraged garment workers took to street at bout 8:30am at different points of the city and went on the rampage damaging or setting fire to vehicles and factories,” roving UNB reporters said in a firsthand account of the reigning anarchy.
They set fire to 17 vehicles, including two imposing modern double-deckers of European Volvo brand, at Mirpur, Pallabi and Kafrul-and the orgies fast spread like forest fires to other labor-intensive areas in and around the capital.
A number of people, including Kafrul thana officer-in-charge of police, were injured during the violent demonstrations as the protestors, armed with stones and sticks, clashed with the law-enforcers in action in their abortive bid to come to grips with the fearful situation.
In a scene of vandalism many said never ever before seen in this country’s productive arena, a band of rioters also attacked Samah Razor Blade factory in Tejgaon industrial area at about 10:30am, damaged and set ablaze its machinery and looted valuable machines.
Before leaving the wrecked factory, they also set fire to eight cars parked on the premises of the industrial unit.
Factory Manager (Procurement) Mozammel claimed the attackers damaged and looted machines worth over Tk 20 crore.
Another car was burnt in front of National Shooting Complex at Gulshan at noon.
As anarchy reigned supreme, traffic on Savar-Ashulia and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways came to a halt as the workers put up barricades at different places on the busy routes. That virtually turned Dhaka into a besieged city.
Sufferings of the HSC examinees knew no bounds as roads to the exam centers were blockaded for long hours. Many of them could not reach their exam centers in time.
In Gazipur, unruly demonstrators set three garment factories ablaze and damaged about 10 other factories and at least 100 vehicles.
The fire-damaged export industries are Muajjem Knitting, Tushka Garments, and Tamijuddin Textiles.
Some 20-kilometre stretch from Konabari to Duttapara on the highway looked like a “veritable battlefield” as the garment workers and law-enforcers chased and counter-cased each other, leaving over 100 injured.
In a desperate cry for safety and security of their businesses the garment-factory owners and exporters also came out on the street and began squatting at the crossroads near Sonargaon Hotel. They demanded “immediate deployment of army” to face the exigencies.
The current spate of violence started off with FS Sweater factory at Gazipur a few days back, where one worker was killed in police firing during massive unrest.
The entrepreneurs lamented that the sudden outburst of unrest dealt a deadlier blow to the country’s main export-earning sector-readymade garments-than the one stemming from quota abolition through the expiry of MFA on the international market.
On the other side, the protesting workers complained of deprivation from their just salaries and allowances as well as holidays.
--UNB, BDNEWS