Textile
workers demanding better pay and one day off per week went on a rampage
Monday at an industrial park near the Bangladeshi capital, setting fire to
two factories and several buses, a domestic news agency reported.
At least 100 people, including several police, were injured when factory
guards and riot police intervened to disperse the stick-wielding protesters
at Savar, an industrial town near Dhaka, the United News of Bangladesh said.
The demonstrators also damaged several buses and cars after barricading a
major highway to the capital and ransacking several smaller factories.
The rioting apparently began when authorities at some factories tried to
stop their workers from joining the protest.
Several factories that mostly make garments for export were declared shut
down following the rioting, and extra police were deployed at the park.
Bangladesh has about 2,500 garment factories employing about 1.8 million
workers, mostly women.
The impoverished country earns about $6 billion annually from exports in
textiles, mainly to the United States and Europe, according to Bangladesh's
Export Promotion Bureau.