ভালো আছি

At least two persons were killed and 200, including 12 policemen, injured during violent clashes between garment workers and law enforcers at Ershad Nagar, Tongi, Gazipur yesterday. One female police is reportedly missing since the clashes. One of the deceased was identified as Babul, 30, a factory worker. SP Mahfuzul Haq Nuruzzaman told the New Nation that no police was killed during the clash on the premises of Nippon Garment Factory and its adjacent areas. The trouble originated as the authorities shut down the factory till November 29 without paying three months’ arrears of the workers on the pretext that the company’s business has been hit hard by the global economic recession. The workers got furious when they came to know of the management’s decision, as they stepped into their workplace this morning. Police rushed to the spot and tried to disperse the agitating workers. The workers launched an attack on the law-enforcers which led to the clashes. The angry workers vandalised several vehicles and set ablaze a passenger bus on the highway as chase and counter-chase continued for a while, disrupting traffic on the highway. The agitating workers claimed that several workers were still missing. The police allegedly ransacked some houses and shops at different blocks of Ershad Nagar and also tortured many innocent people who had no involvement in the incident, eye witnesses said. They said the demonstrators pelted brick chips on the police personnel during the clashes. The bodies of the deceased were taken away from the spot to unspecified places, local people said. Road communication on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway was restored at about 1:00pm nearly five hours after the disruption. During clashes, police fired over 200 rounds of bullet to disperse the demonstrators who retaliated with pelting brick chips. At least 20 people including 14 with bullet wounds, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Three injured policemen were admitted to Rajarbagh Police Hospital in critical condition. Those admitted to the DMCH with bullet wounds are Saleha, 20, Sohel, 25, Farida, 22, Anwara, 30, Bachchu, 40, Akhter, 20, Sumi Begum, 20, Aleya, 35, Belal Hossain, 23, Mokhter Hossain, 20, M Alam, 38, Fazal Bepari, 60, Abdus Salam, 20, and Ruhul Amin. Home Minister Sahara Khatun visited the injured workers at the DMCH . The entire area into a battleground as the sounds of firing were shaking the area following the clashes between some hundred police and several thousand workers. Meanwhile, local ruling party lawmaker Zahid Hasan Russel along with ten workers visited the three-story factory building to search for the alleged bodies inside the factory. Home Minister Sahara Khatun, Zahid Hasan Russell, MP, Inspector General Police Nur Mohamamd and RAB Director General Khandaker Hassan Mahmood, and Tongi municipality mayor Asmatullah Khan visited the place of occurrence. Police picked up at least 20 people from the place of incident. Additional police and RAB were deployed on the spot.