Clash with police claims life of female garment worker in Gazipur

A female garment worker died while another sustained injuries in a clash between employees protesting for a pay raise and the police in Gazipur on Wednesday morning. Anjuara Begum, 24, a sewing machine operator at Islam Garments, was declared dead after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition. Jamal Uddin, supervisor of a garment factory, had been injured and was undergoing treatment at the emergency department of the same hospital, Inspector Bacchu Miah of DMCH police outpost said. Workers had been holding demonstrations for around two weeks demanding their minimum wage be set at Tk23,000. The government on Tuesday announced that the new minimum wage would be Tk12,500, a figure workers’ unions would reject. Outraged by the decision, garment workers from different factories protested in different areas of the city after 9:30am on Wednesday, reportedly vandalizing vehicles and setting tyres on fire on the streets. The police then dispersed them by firing rubber bullets, lobbing teargas shells and using sound grenades, injuring several protesters. The protesters then hurled brickbats at them in retaliation. Later, police and BGB troops were deployed in the area to maintain order. Konabari police station OC AKM Ashraf Uddin said the protesters had blocked several roads by setting tyres ablaze. The police had used teargas and sound grenades to bring the situation under control, he added. Our Gazipur correspondent, Raihanul Islam Akand, and DMCH correspondent, Aminul Islam Babu, contributed to this report
Published on: 2023-11-08 08:18:25.403891 +0100 CET