Police vehicle torched in Mirpur amid garment worker protests

A police pickup truck has been set on fire during clashes between protesting garment workers and police in Dhaka's Mirpur.

The incident took place in front of Purobi Cinema Hall around noon on Sunday.

Anwar Islam Dolan, an officer of the Fire Service Headquarters media cell, told bdnews24.com that a team from Pallabi Station rushed to the spot after the incident was reported.

However, he was unable to confirm whether it was a police vehicle.

Workers from several garment factories in Mirpur launched demonstrations on Sunday morning to push for several demands, including a monthly minimum wage of Tk 30,000. At one stage, they blocked the Mirpur-10 roundabout.

Police baton the workers and lobbed sound grenades at them to try and bring the situation under control. The workers then left the Mirpur-10 area, but traffic flow did not return to normal.

"The clashes are still ongoing. We are dispersing the protesters. The details will be provided later," said Abu Naser Rikabder, deputy commissioner of the police Mirpur Division around noon.

Garment workers had blocked roads in different areas of Mirpur on Thursday to push for the same demand. Around 9:30am that day, several hundred workers took to the road at Mirpur-10 roundabout.

Though they cleared the area at a later time, another group pushing for the same demand had blocked the road in front of the Purabi Cinema Hall near the metro rail station No. 11. After blocking the road for about six hours in two phases, the workers called off the demonstration in the afternoon and traffic returned to normal.

The protesters then took to the streets of Mirpur again on Saturday, disrupting traffic in the Mirpur-10, Mirpur-11, Mirpur-12 and Proshika Intersection areas.

Garment workers have been protesting for some time for a minimum wage of Tk 30,000.

Labour Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury Arif announced the formation of a wage board for garment workers on Sunday.

Garment workers block Mirpur-10 again New wage board may be formed ‘soon’ Garment workers block road to demand Tk 30,000 minimum wage Read More Vietnam cuts retail electricity price Police box torched in Gazipur Police vehicle torched in Mirpur Police clash with workers in Mirpur Read More Opinion Md Hasnain Are we doing enough to save our soil?