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Dozens hurt in Bangladesh clash over wages
Reuters - July 31, 2010
Dhaka – At least 100 people were injured when garment workers attacked factories and vehicles in Bangladesh on Saturday in a second day of protests to demand higher wages, police and witnesses said.
Police fired teargas, rubber bullets and used batons to disperse the protesting workers blocking two highways in the suburbs of the capital Dhaka.
This week the government set the minimum monthly wage to 3,000 taka ($43) but workers are demanding 5,000 taka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the workers to refrain from violence, for their own benefit. The garment industry is Bangladesh's second biggest employer after agriculture, and garments account for more than 80 percent of the impoverished country's annual export earnings of $16 billion.
"Who will benefit if the (garment) industry is destroyed? The workers should not involve themselves in any activity that might put their own source of bread at risk," Hasina's press secretary, Abul Kalam Azad, quoted her as saying.
Saturday's protests started in Ashulia, an industrial area 30 km (19 miles) north of the capital.
"Several policemen were also injured, as they clashed with workers, trying to dispel attacks on their vans," said a reporter on the scene.
The workers beat and seriously injured a cameraman of a local television channel when he tried to film them. They also damaged and looted machines and ready-to-wear garments from a number of factories, witnesses said.
Police have so far detained 25 people.
Protesters also blocked a highway at Fatulla, 16 km east of Dhaka on Saturday. Most of the garment factories in Dhaka were closed after Friday's unrest.
Bangladesh-based factories make garments for international brands such JC Penney, Wal-Mart, H&M, Kohl's, Marks & Spencer, Zara and Carrefour.
[Reporting by Nizam Ahmed, editing by Anis Ahmed and Miral Fahmy.]
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