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LABOUR UNREST

Gazipur turns into battlefield

25 injured in clashes; workers set fire to 30 shops and 60 rental rooms

Star Business Report
Clashes broke out between police and workers of around 20 apparel factories in Gazipur yesterday, injuring at least 25 people, which prompted the government to deploy paramilitary troops in the industrial zone from today.
Around 2,000 workers of Standard Group took to the streets at about 8:30am demanding the factory be reopened and the pay for production per piece hiked, wit-
nesses said.
They also placed a 10-point demand, including a daily payment ofTk 200 during off-seasons, when the owners keep factories closed, our Gazipur correspondent said.
Later, around 8,000 workers of 20 factories, including Green Land, Meditek and MM Knit Composite, joined them and ransacked some vehicles, set fire to tree logs, burned tyres and blocked the Kashimpur-Konabari road.
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At around 10.45am, the workers came back to Standard Group and set fire to the factory building, which was extinguished by the law enforcers and the locals.
The area soon turned into a battlefield when the workers set fire to 30 shops located in front of the factory.
At one point, the locals lent a hand to the police to help bring the situation under control, said ASM Shamsur Rahman, assistant superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police, adding that the police fired teargas shells and used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators.
Some workers also set fire to at least 60 rental rooms of three houses in Konabari-Kashimpur area and vandalised and looted over 100 shops at 5pm over allegations of raising house rents irrationally, said Humayun Kabir, councillor of ward no. 7 in Gazipur City Corporation.
Local landlords have raised monthly house rents to Tk 500 from Tk 400 per person soon after the announcement of an increase in worker wage less than two weeks ago, according to some workers.
The clashes in the key industrial belt for the garment factories have prompted the government to take decision to deploy paramilitary troops.
Mohammad Mohsin, additional district magistrate of Gazipur, confirmed the deployment of three platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh in the district, starting today, to avoid any further clashes.
Workers in some Kashimpur-based factories such as Delta Group, DBL Group and Cotton Club also demonstrated in front of their factories and did not join the work, said Saiful Islam, a sub-inspector of police.
Later, police dispersed them when they started breaking the glasses of the factories with brickbats, he said.
The chaotic situation forced the owners of most of