At least 100 workers of readymade garments (RMG) factories were injured when police charged batons on them on the compound of Rana Plaza, the building which collapsed on Tuesday morning.
Of those injured, 22 were admitted to different local hospitals and private clinics in a critical condition. Witnesses said thousands of RMG workers of different garment factories in the Savar-Ashulia industrial belt, who were aggrieved by the collapse of the Rana Plaza building that has claimed over 390 lives so far, organised processions from different places of the belt and congregated on the compound since 10am. Later, they tried to break through the police cordon set up around the building.
At one stage, law enforcement personnel charged batons on the irate workers to bring the situation under control, causing injuries to 100 people.
The workers chanted slogans demanding that the death penalty be awarded to Sohel Rana, the owner of the collapsed building, and that those who are still missing in the incident be rescued.
Later, the workers vandalised some 20 moving vehicles on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and seven markets in the area.
Witnesses said hundreds of agitated workers organised protests on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and some 500 workers vandalised a factory of the Al-Muslim group. At one stage, workers of the Al-Muslim group clashed with the agitated workers, leaving 30 people injured.
The workers were staging a demonstration in Savar bus stand area till the time of filing of this report at 1pm on Tuesday. A huge number of law enforcement personnel has been deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
All readymade garment factories in Savar and Ashulia remained closed for the second successive day on Tuesday as workers continued to agitate and clashed with the police on the streets, reportedly after cracks surfaced in a factory.
Industrial police director Md Moniruzzaman said the factories in the area were closed for the second consecutive day to prevent disturbances.
Moniruzzaman said the workers hit the streets minutes after they reported for work, disrupting vehicular traffic on the Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Tangail highways.
Several thousand workers of nearly 500 factories came out at Savar’s Ulail, Rajphulbaria, Savar Bus Stand and Rajasan Road, and Ashulia’s Jamgarh, Narsinghapur, Nischintapur, Jirabo and Pukurparh to stage demonstrations.
They also clashed with the police as the latter moved in to disperse the protestors at Ulail, Savar Bus Stand and Jamgarh. The police said they fired several rounds of teargas shells to drive away the agitators.
Workers of RH Garment, owned by the Prime Group, reportedly launched the agitation and were later joined by workers from the factories of the Muslim Group and Al Islam Group, which are close by.
The RH Garment factory employs nearly 8,000 workers. The workers were allegedly forced to continue work though cracks had appeared in the building of their factory.
Nahidul Islam, a worker, alleged that the management did not pay heed to the cracks and locked the gate in the morning to prevent workers from leaving the premises. He claimed the workers smashed the lock and came out on the road.
The irate garment workers blocked two highways in Kanchpur in the morning demanding capital punishment for Sohel Rana, owner of Rana Plaza. Police sources and witnesses said the RMG workers stopped work and staged protests in Kanchpur. They blocked the Dhaka-Sylhet highway and brought out rallies, demanding capital punishment for Sohel Rana.
The authorities of all garment factories in the area closed their factories following the protests on Monday morning.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police personnel rushed to the spot to prevent any clash.
Mahabubul Alam, N’ganj industrial police-4 director (superintendent of police), said, “After the Kanchpur factories were declared shut, workers left the factories. Additional law enforcement personnel were deployed in the area to preclude any untoward incident.”
-With The Independent input
