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Dhaka, May 23 (BDNEWS) – Agitation of the garment workers for due wages and other demands turned wild Tuesday as they set fire to factories and vehicles and blocked roads in Dhaka and suburban industrial belts, forcing closure of over 150 apparel factories.
The closed garments units are located mostly in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) in Savar, Gazipur and Dhaka's Mirpur areas.
Monday's strike at the Universe Knitting Ltd. in Savar for fair wage turned wild when garment workers from other nearby factories joined them to unleash an attack on other garment factories in the areas to push for their 11-point demand.
The workers' agitation spread to Dhaka and suburban areas Tuesday as Monday's incident left one garment worker killed in firing by Ansar troops.
In DEPZ, thousand of garment workers demonstrated for the second consecutive day Tuesday.
They torched two garments factories and damaged over 50 vehicles putting up barricade on the Tongi-Ashulia road. The protestors also torched a factory in Dhaka's Tejgaon area, damaged large numbers of offices and over 500 vehicles in Mirpur, Banani and Uttara areas.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), angered by the attacks, blocked the busy Karwan Bazar square for 15 minutes at around 1 pm Tuesday demanding deployment of army in all the factories.
The BGMEA leaders termed the incidents an outcome of a "conspiracy" by a neighbouring country to destroy the apparel sector of the country and also criticised the Prime Minister for her failure to avert the situation.
They also threatened to lay off all the factories unless the government is able to bring the situation under control in five hours.
The movement of convoys of the para-military Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), police, fire brigade and ambulance at the trouble-torn created panic among the city residents, specially for the HSC examinees.
The situation in Savar was the worst among the troubled Tejgaon, Mirpur, Banani and Uttara.
The workers split in small groups took to the street at 8.30 am when the owners of garment factories in Gazipur closed down their factories. The agitated workers shouted slogans against the owners of the factories and their 'cadres' and went berserk from Gazipur to Kurmitola.
The workers torched the Pet Fashion and Diamond Garments Factory and put up barricades on Uttara–Gazipur road. They also damaged over 25 vehicles and burnt tyres to snap vehicular movement.
At about 11 am, police rushed to the spots and charged batons to disperse the agitated workers, prompting a chase and counter chase between the workers and police.
The workers staged a sit-in protest at Ashulia and stopped the fire fighters from extinguishing blaze.
Following the mayhem at least 10 persons including two policemen were wounded.
At about 1.30 pm, police brought the situation under control.
In Tejgaon, garments workers tried to involve the workers of Samah Razor Blade Factory in the movement and after being refused support launched an arson attack on the factory.
The agitated workers torched about 10 to 12 cars parked at the factory garage during the attack. The workers also looted valuables of the factory.
Later in the afternoon, police, RAB and Ansar rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
In a similar incident in Mirpur, the agitated workers torched about 10 vehicles, ransacked roadside offices and factories and snapped vehicular movement on Agargaon-Mirpur road for about two hours.
The incident took place at around 9-30 pm when thousands of workers started marching towards Jatiya Press Club to declare their demand, but faced police obstruction at Sheorapara.
The furious workers damaged 20-25 buses and set fire to at least 10 buses including a BRTC double decker, and looted shops and factories.
The traffic situation worsened in the Rokeya Sarani following the turmoil, as commuters on the route were trapped in congestion.
"It's really an awful situation ... the entire area is shrouded with smoke ... can we reach our destination," Abul Bashar, a bank official, said while talking to BDNEWS.
Hundreds of HSC examinees were also affected as many of them failed to reach their examination centres on time.
Communications with Mymensingh and northern districts from Dhaka were snapped.
The areas of Dhaka city with concentration of garments factories have been heavily fortified with contingents of police, RAB and Ansar.
Some 70 garment workers were picked up by law enforcing agencies from Uttara during the agitations.
BDNEWS/1739 hrs.
