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Rampage over death rumour

Staff Correspondent
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Around 350garment units lose a day's production, one dies under wheels, at least 100 injured as workers in Ashulia clash with cops
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Production in around 350 garment factories remained suspended in Ashulia industrial belt near the capital yesterday as workers took to the streets following rumours of a co-worker's death.
Clashes between the agitating workers and police left at least 100 people including 10 cops injured.
During the clashes, Kamrun Nahar Golapi, 30, an operative of Opex Sweater Factory, was run over and killed by a bus at Jamgorah when the workers were chased by police, said Mokhlesur Rahman, inspector of Ashulia industrial police.
Traffic on Dhaka-Tangail highway and Ashulia-Baipail road was suspended for three and a half hours since the workers started agitations around 10:00am.
Police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to bring the situation under control. The workers retaliated with brickbats, set tyres afire and barricaded roads, witnesses said.
All the factories, offices and business establishments at Jamgorah, Baipail, Beron, Narasinghapur and Banglabazar were shut down to avert escalation of violence.
Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of police in Dhaka, told The Daily Star that they had arrested six persons on the spot and released them later.
The marauding workers damaged around 20 roadside factories, including those of Ha-Meem Group, and vandalised over 50 vehicles.
According to witnesses and police, several hundred workers of Ha-Meem Group started agitation inside a factory at Narasinghapur in the morning, alleging that some officials and security guards had beaten dead Salman, a storekeeper of the group's Artistic Design Ltd, and hid the body.
Salman had an altercation with Mofakkharul Islam, a director of Ha-Meem, Thursday evening when the latter asked him not to use mobile phone during work hours.
At one stage, security guards and officials beat up Salman and handed him over to police. Ashulia police confirmed that he was sent to jail yesterday.
As Salman was absent yesterday morning, a rumour spread that he died from torture, said Meer Fasiur Rahman, assistant director of industrial police.
Later, the workers demonstrated on the streets and called other factory workers to join them.
Rafiqul Islam Sheikh, additional superintendent of police, Dhaka, told The Daily Star that police brought the situation under control around 1:30pm.
The injured were admitted to Enam Medical College and Hospital and other local hospitals. FINANCIAL LOSS
The factories that were shut in the wake of violence are likely to resume production today.
Garment makers said they had incurred a significant financial loss for stoppage of production in
almost 350 factories at Ashulia.
Most of the country's big garment factories are located in Savar and Ashulia areas. The owners could not quantify the losses immediately.
“The major concern after such a sudden violence is that the buyers want to know whether the shipments could be made properly or not," said Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
“An uncertainty prevails among buyers and manufacturers.”
AK Azad, owner of Ha-Meem Group, said normalcy had returned to the factory and the workers pledged to go back to work from today.
“It was a rumour that a worker was killed," he said. “But we have lost production of one day. This is a big loss."
Munsur Khaled, chief of BGMEA Crisis Management Cell, said he had held a meeting on the Ha-Meem Group premises with at least 5,000 workers, owners and workers' leaders. Everybody there agreed on reopening the factories today.
“The workers assured us that they will join work from today," he said. Munsur could not say the exact amount of loss from the work stoppage in around 350 factories.
He also said the industrial police had released the workers nabbed for suspected involvement in the violence.
“We want a friendly working environment in factories. We do not want any violence. Practice of trade unionism can help establish a friendly working environment," said Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation.