Production suspended at Bangladesh EPZ following workers' riot
By Nazrul Islam, Dhaka, May 23 (ANI): Authorities suspended work at the factories in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone for a day after workers clashed with agents of garment factory owners and the police on Monday over non-payment of wages.
The workers set two garment factories on fire and more than 100 others in and outside the exclusive zone at Zamagarah in the suburban Savar, 18 kilometres off the capital city.
More than 300 vehicles were also damaged during the clash, which originated from Universal Garments Limited, after the owner of the factory failed to meet the deadline for payment of workers' salary.
The workers are said to be unpaid for three months.
Two major roads – Ashulia and Ziarabo – remained closed as the trouble, which started at around 10:30am, spilled into the old and new export processing zones.
A garment worker was claimed to have been shot dead by members of the Bangladesh Ansars, and more than 200 people were injured.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association expressed concern at repeated attacks on garment factories and urged the government to enhance security at every factory across the country.
"A vested interested group has been trying to destroy the sector, which contributes 76 per cent of the foreign exchange to the national economy," the association said in a statement.
Nazma Binte Alamgir, official spokesperson of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority, told ANI that the operation of the EPZ would remain suspended on Tuesday. She said the violence erupted from outside the EPZ and none of the EPZ workers were involved in the violent attacks.
The garment workers, meanwhile, announced work stoppage at garment factories in Savar in protest against the attack on them.
The workers put up barricades on the Ashulia-EPZ highway, disrupting traffic movement for about eight hours. They damaged and set fire to several vehicles.
According to witnesses, several hundred workers at Universal Garments gathered in front of the factory at Zamagarah at about 10:30am to press home their 11 demands, including payment of three months' salary and overtime bills.
"The authorities closed the factory on May 16, without paying our dues and saying they would settle the dues on Sunday," a supervisor of the factory said.
"However, when we came to work on Sunday, we were told that the factory was closed," he said adding that the authorities refused to talk about the payment of arrears and musclemen of the owner assaulted some of us when wanted to know when the factory would open.
Enraged, the workers took it out on several factories, and workers from those factories come out within few minutes, and started agitation, which turned into clashes and spread all over the industrial belt. The fierce clashes continued until the night.
The police swung into action in a bid to bring the situation under control but only managed to add fuel to the fire.
Witnesses said the workers chased the policemen and damaged vehicles on the highway, turning the areas into a real battlefield.
Additional police were deployed in the night.
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