RMG factory closure: 2 workers shot during clash with law enforcers

Clashes between police, army personnel, and demonstrating garment factory workers left two workers with gunshot wounds and several others injured in the capital’s Kachukhet and Mirpur-14 areas yesterday morning.
A police truck and an army pickup were set on fire, said Kazi Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge of Kafrul Police Station.
Police said the workers of Creative Designers Ltd took to the streets around 8:30am after their factory was suddenly closed by the managers. Their number grew rapidly as employees from other factories joined.
Clashes began around 45 minutes later as police tried to clear the roads. Army and Rab personnel soon joined the efforts.
Jhuma Akhter, 15, Al Amin Hossain, 17, of Centex Fashions Ltd, were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with gunshot wounds.
Jhuma received treatment for a wound to her right leg and was discharged while Amin needed surgery for a bullet wound to his back, said Inspector Muhammd Faruk, in-charge of the police outpost at the hospital.
Their colleague Kabir Hossain said the injured workers were walking home after their factory was declared shut.
Police said the demonstrators attempted to block roads at Mirpur-14 and Kachukhet and the law enforcers intervened. The protesters then hurled brick chunks at the police.
During the violence, several security cameras of nearby buildings were valdalised, witnesses said.
Police, Rab and army teams dispersed the protesters, and gunshots were heard in the area. Videos uploaded on social media showed protesters fleeing as shots were heard in the background.
Firefighters doused the fire on the police and army vehicles, and traffic movement in the area became normal by 11:00am.
A security guard of the building in which Creative Designers Ltd is housed told Prothom Alo that a woman worker was assaulted at the factory several days ago.
A male worker who protested was also assaulted there, he said.
The managing director of an adjacent factory said the workers of Creative had been demanding the resignation of a line chief.
After a meeting between law enforcers and the workers ended without a resolution, the management closed the factory, invoking a section of the labour law that states “no work, no pay”.
Mohammed Tareq Sarker, managing director of Creative, did not respond to calls made by The Daily Star.
Maksuder Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Mirpur), said police used force to disperse the protesters, and several law enforcers were also injured.
He told The Daily Star that the line chief in question allegedly assaulted a worker a few days ago outside the factory and that angry workers had disrupted production for days.
On Wednesday evening, law enforcement agencies held a meeting with the workers, but it ended without a resolution.
Following this, a group of 20-25 workers obstructed shipments, the DC added.
“Although the factory administration terminated the line chief, the workers remained unsatisfied and demanded that the authorities hand him over to them,” he said.
In response, the factory authorities declared the closure, he said.
He added that at least six protesters were detained yesterday.
Meanwhile, an ISPR statement said 335 people have been arrested by the army-led Industrial Security Task Force since August 9 on charges of causing unrest in Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur, and Narayanganj.
The task force conducted 136 operations to rescue factory owners, workers, and management members.