Cost of living crisis: Police teargas demonstrating apparel workers for second day

For the second consecutive day, police have fired tear gas and charged batons to chase away workers from several readymade garment factories who were staging a demonstration, demanding a hike in their wages in Dhaka’s Mirpur.

The protesters left the roads in sections 10, 11, 13 and 14, and the roundabout at section 10  about 3:30 pm on Saturday, nearly seven and a half hours after they started the demonstration, confirmed Ilias Hossain, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Mirpur Division assistant commissioner (Traffic).

“The traffic situation became normal after 3:30pm,” he said.

Witnesses said the protesting workers blockaded the area and did not allow any vehicles to move, which created massive gridlocks in the surrounding areas.

The workers from different garment factories in the Mirpur area had started the movement on Thursday, demanding that either their wages be raised or the prices of all necessities reduced.

A running battle with police took place when the workers threw brickbats at different establishments and shopping malls in the area, said Parvez Islam, chief of Pallabi Police Station.

“We [the law enforcers] were finally able to disperse the workers by firing several rounds of tear gas shells,” he said.

Some of the workers, when approached, said they have been asking the factory owners for a raise for a while, but the owners have yet to heed their request, which led them to take to the streets.

On Saturday, some of the protesters damaged vehicles and the exteriors of the Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium between sections 10 and 11.

A case was filed with the Pallabi Police on Saturday evening, naming 10 and 250 yet-to-be-identified protesters, on charges of torching and obstructing police in carrying out duties.