DHAKA: Two Bangladeshi opposition activists were killed on Tuesday after police clashed with hundreds of anti-government protests, launching a three-day strike blocking railways and roads after their top leaders were charged with murder.
Police said the violence broke out in many cities and towns as members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, demanded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation ahead of general polls due by the end of January, according to AFP.
The BNP said it started its transport blockade after police broke up a rally on Saturday when over 100,000 supporters of the two major opposition parties demanded Hasina Wajid allow a free and fair election under a neutral government.
On Sunday, police charged BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and over 150 other top party members with the murder of a policeman during the demonstrations.
The violence has sparked global concern, with seven nations, including the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Japan, urging both sides to “exercise restraint, stop violence, and work together for a free and fair election.
Al Amin, deputy police chief in the town of Kuliarchar, north of Dhaka, said that two BNP members were killed, but that details were not clear on how they died.
Garment Workers’ Protests in Bangladesh
Moreover, Bangladeshi police also clashed with thousands of garment workers demanding fair wages for the clothing they make for top Western brands, a day after similar protests left at least two people dead.
Police said tens of thousands of workers at dozens of factories had started strikes in Ashulia and Gazipur, the country’s largest industrial city, with police personnel firing tear gas and rubber bullets as crowds blocked roads and smashed up factories.
Gazipur alone is home to more than 1,000 plants that make clothing for brands such as Gap and H&M.
A senior garment union leader in Ashulia Al Kamran said that workers hit the streets as their salaries could no longer cover rising food expenses.
Bangladesh is one of the largest garment exporters in the world, with the industry accounting for 85% of the South Asian country’s 55 billion dollars in annual exports.
But conditions are dire for many of its 4 million apparel workers.
Deputy police chief of the Ashulia industrial area Mahmud Naser said that around 15,000 of the workers joined demonstrations for a wage hike at separate places in Ashulia.
Union leader Kamran disputed those figures, saying that some 50,000 workers had downed tools in Ashulia alone, with soaring prices a key driver.
