5 cops hurt in APC blast during clash with RMG workers in Gazipur

At least five members of Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) sustained injuries in a blast of an Armed Personnel Carriers (APC) during a clash with readymade garment (RMG) workers on Dhaka-Tangail Highway on Wednesday afternoon.

The injured are Prabir, 30, Fuad, 28, Khorshed, 30, Ashiqul, 27, and Bipul, 24.

Locals said RMG workers were demonstrating on the highway demanding a monthly minimum wage of Tk 23,000 instead of the government-announced Tk12,500.

At one stage of the demonstration, they said a clash broke out between the RMG workers and law enforcers.

The APC went off suddenly when it was being used to tackle the demonstrating workers. Five cops who were inside the APC sustained injuries in the blast.    

Initially, they were rushed to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. Three of them were shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said Shaheed Tajuddin Hospital's resident physician Rafiqul Islam.  

Prabir, Fuad, and Khorshed, 30, were sent to the DMCH for better treatment, he said, adding that Ashiqul and Bipul, 24, were undergoing treatment in Gazipur.

Md Ibrahim Khan, deputy commissioner (DC-DB) of the GMP, could not be reached over mobile phone despite repeated attempts in this regard.

Earlier in the morning, a female RMG worker named Anjuara Khatun was killed and 10 were injured in a clash between police and workers at Konabari in Gazipur.

Witnesses said workers of garment factories took to the streets in the morning in Konabari, demanding Tk 23,000 as the monthly minimum salary.

On information, police fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them, triggering a clash that left 11 people injured.

The protesting garment workers claimed that Anjuara died on the way to the DMCH.