Bangladesh police clash with protesting garment workers | Business and Economy News

As much as 25,000 garment staff clashed with police in Bangladesh on Thursday, officers stated, as protests rejecting a government-offered pay rise pressured the closure of at the least 100 factories exterior Dhaka.

A government-appointed panel raised wages on Tuesday by 56.25 % for the South Asian nation’s 4 million garment manufacturing unit staff, who’re searching for a near-tripling of their month-to-month wage.

Bangladesh’s 3,500 garment factories account for about 85 % of its $55bn in annual exports, supplying most of the world’s prime manufacturers together with Levi’s, Zara and H&M.

However situations are dire for most of the staff, the overwhelming majority of whom are girls whose month-to-month pay begins at 8,300 taka ($75).

Police stated violence broke out within the industrial cities of Gazipur and Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka after greater than 10,000 staff staged protests in factories and alongside highways to reject the panel’s provide.

“There have been 10,000 [protesting] staff at a number of spots. They threw bricks and stones at our officers and factories, which have been open,” Mahmud Naser, Ashulia’s deputy industrial police chief, stated.

“One among our officers was injured. We fired rubber bullets and tear fuel to disperse the employees,” Naser stated, including that greater than 100 factories have been shut down in Ashulia and surrounding areas.

Hundreds of staff additionally clashed with the elite Fast Motion Battalion (RAB) and police at Konabari and Naujore in Gazipur, with police utilizing batons and tear fuel to drive them into alleys.

“About 15,000 staff blocked the street at Konabari, and vandalised autos and different properties. We needed to disperse them to take care of legislation and order,” Gazipur municipality administrator Sayed Murad Ali stated.

At the least two injured staff have been taken to hospital, police stated.