Dhaka - Fierce clashes between police and clothes workers left scores of people injured near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday, police and witnesses said. Unconfirmed reports suggested that at least two workers were killed during the five-hour running battles in Tongi, some 30 kilometres north of Dhaka. The police denied any deaths.
"There is no report of death during the trouble, few people, including lawmen, received injuries and they are undergoing medical treatment at hospitals," Inspector General of Police Noor Mohammad, who visited the trouble-spot, told reporters.
Local people claimed at least two people were killed when police fired gunshots on a garment workers demonstration in Tongi, about 30 kilometres north of Dhaka, protesting the authorities decision to lay-ff the factory without paying wages.
They said some 3,000 workers, mostly female, of Nippon Garments Limited took to the street when they found the factory locked up and closed in the morning.
They began clashes with police when the law enforcers tried to disperse angry workers who have put barricades on a busy highway connecting the capital and the country's northern part.
The police replied with baton charges, teargas and rubber bullets when the protestors pelted them.
Hospital officials said that they treated a number of injured workers, but there were deaths reported.
On Thursday, Bangladesh's Commerce Minister Faruk Khan had warned in parliament that it would be difficult to sustain the country's garment sector without finding a solution to the problem of workers' unrest.
Bangladesh's garment sector, which earns about 78 per cent of the country's total export revenue, faces frequent unrest over non-payment of workers wage and workplace safety.
