& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

RMG workers again fight with cops at Mirpur: 100 hurt

Staff Correspondent
The Mirpur area of the capital turned into a virtual battlefield yesterday afternoon as several thousand garment factory workers locked into a fierce clash with police.
More than 100 people including 50 workers and 20 police personnel suffered injuries during the clash that started around 5:30pm and continued till 9:00pm.
Police lobbed at least 40 teargas shells and fired rubber bullets at the agitating workers who retorted
by pelting the law enforcers with brickbats.
The agitating garment workers also went on a rampage and attacked several factories damaging window panes and other furniture.
Commuters going home suffered the most as vehicular traffic to and from Mirpur were grinded to a standstill.
The clash ensued when police clubbed the workers of MBM Garments around 5:30pm. The workers of MBM were demonstrating on the street at Mirpur Section
FROM PAGE 1
13 with an eight-point demand that included a demand for a pay raise.
As tension mounted at MBM, authorities of around 20 other nearby readymade garment (RMG) units shut down operations at their factories in apprehension of labour unrest
At that time rumours were spread among RMG workers that two of their fellow workers including a female were beaten to death inside Opex Style Wears Ltd by hired goons of the factory owner and their bodies were dumped inside the factory.
As the rumour spread among the workers of other factories like wildfire, they joined in the violent demonstrations with the workers who had already been on the street. They rained brickbats on the police and garment factories, damaging several RMG units.
Police at that time swooped on die agitating workers, charging batons and firing teargas shells and rubber bullets, witnesses said.
Soon the clash spread to the road stretching from Mirpur Section 10 roundabout to Kanchukhet and into
the alleys on both sides, turning most pan of Mirpur into a combat zone
Police were seen retreating several times in the face of attacks of the violently advancing workers Several lournalists on professional duty were beaten by police during the clashes.
According to witnesses, when the employees of MBM Garments Factory started agitation, the authorities of all factories in the area. «cepung Opex Style Wears Ltd, shut down their activities apprehending attacks on their factories. After the closure of the factories, all the work *rs came out on the streets and joined the already agitating workers parading the roads in front of the factories
Meanwhile, in protest against the ..continuing operation of Opex Style
Wears Ltd, the agitating workers staged a demonstration in front of the factory. At one stage, the employees of the factory attacked the agitat-ingworkers.
Workers said goons hired by Opex Style Wears Ltd swooped on them and beat to death two of their fellow workers, the bodies of whom were dumped inside the factory.
Around 8:00pm, police alongwi th six worker representatives entered Opex Style Wears Ltd to find out whether the two workers were really killed inside the factory.
The six workers and police came out of the building half an hour later finding no dead body.
However, the situation turned volatile once again and the workers started attacking police and vandalising the factories as a rumour had already spread that the six workers who had entered Opex are flunkeys of the factory owner.
Police also went into action again and resorted to baton charges, teargas shells and rubber bullets for about40 minutes. During the action, police beat up the angry protesters indiscriminately
When contacted, Capt (retd) M Nurul Azim, director (finance) of Opex Style Wears Ltd, denied the allegation of torturing the workers and said, "The vested quarters are trying to influence the workers to be violent.-
Earlier on Sunday, police beat up a group of RMG workers in the city's Sheorapara area after the workers blockaded the busy Rokeya Sarani to drive their demands home vandalising several vehicles.
Yesterday’s agitation is the fourth of such incidents in the area since January 2. Earlier, workers of SQ Sweater Ltd staged demonstrations on January 2 and 3 while workers of three other factories of the same group of companies barricaded Rokeya Sarani on Saturday in support of similar demands.