Different socio-political and labourers' organisations yesterday condemned police's attack on the workers of Tuba Group garment factories, who were staging a hunger strike demanding to be paid three months' arrears and Eid bonuses.

They termed the attack a gross violation of human rights.

A few hundred workers had been in the strike since July 28 but police ousted them from inside the factories at the capital's Badda yesterday, using tear gas and batons.

The Tuba authorities, backed by police, also confined over 1,000 workers to the factories for hours Wednesday, allegedly to quell their ongoing protests for full payment.

In a statement, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the attack was comparable to those in the medieval age. He demanded that the government take proper initiatives for full payment of their arrears.

President of the Communist Party of Bangladesh Mujahidul Islam Selim and its General Secretary Syed Abu Zafar, in a statement, said the government had made the situation more complex by repressing the workers instead of accepting their legal demands.

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, in a statement, also condemned the attack on university teachers and cultural activists who visited the spot to express solidarity with the workers.

Bangladesh Trade Union Centre, Gonotantrik Bam Morcha, and Bangladesh Garments Sramik Shanghati also condemned the attack in separate statements.