50 policemen injured in Ashulia over four days

Out of the 800 RMG factories in his area of jurisdiction about 100 suspended operations on Tuesday, he told reporters near the Dewan Water Pump in Nishchintapur area of Ashulia.

Operations were normal in all the factories in Ashulia on Tuesday except in Narsimhapur, Nishchintapur and Zirabo areas, he said.

Md Mominul said that many genuine workers want to join duties and observe only peaceful protests when they have to.

However, some outsider groups were trying to divert the main focus of the current workers’ protest, which is wage hike, and destabilise the situation to meet “illegal political goals,” he said.

He also denied allegations that police were using “unnecessary and excessive” force against the protesting workers, contending that police were rather trying to ensure security for the workers and the factory owners alike.

Police presence and security measures were not an impediment to workers joining their duties at factories, he added.

In many cases, a group of workers would leave a factory floor at the instigation of “outsiders” and start vandalising nearby factories, necessitating forceful police response, he claimed.

Police are not against the workers, and rather, stand in solidarity with their wage hike demand, Mominul Islam told reporters.

On one occasion, a factory owner went into hiding without paying wages for four months. Receiving information in this regard, police hunted him down, and kept him at the police station until he paid off all the outstanding wages, said the superintendent of Industrial Police-1.