Protests and strike hit Bangladesh

RIOT police patrolled the streets of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Monday as angry opposition to the regime grows.

Rising food prices and a stock exchange crisis have fuelled popular discontent.

Passions have also been raised by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's plans for a new airport to be named after her father.

The original scheme has now been abandoned following passionate protests and the death of a policeman.

Al Jazeera reports: "Bangladesh police said that at least eight buses were set on fire on Sunday night, just hours before the strike was enforced.

"A homemade bomb reportedly exploded on the campus of a Dhaka university, injuring two people.

"Earlier on Sunday, hundreds of angry investors had also gathered to protest outside the Dhaka Stock Exchange, following the latest in a series of stock exchange collapses."

Bangladeshi workers step up resistance

BANGLADESHI workers have stepped up their inspiring uprising against slave labour conditions.

The authorities and factory owners thought their resistance could be bought off with an 80% wage rise - up to the equivalent of £28 a week.

But the rebels are holding out for £46 and gave their answer on the streets.

Gulf News reports that Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina on Saturday warned tough action would be taken against "anarchists" as thousands of the workers took to the streets for the second consecutive day.

It adds: "The Premier's comments Saturday came as the suburban Savar and Narayanganj districts witnessed clashes between the workers and riot police - leaving dozens of workers and police injured.

"The premier’s deputy press secretary Mahbubul Haque Shakil said Shaikh Hasina had said: 'No anarchy and sabotage in this sector will be tolerated'. Shaikh Hasina said the street protests were 'designed to destroy the sector'.

"The premier had asked workers to concentrate on their work after accepting the new minimum wage, saying 'their reasonable demands will be addressed after the effects of the world economic depression are over and exports increase'.

"Shaikh Hasina had criticised the garment industry for paying low wages to some two million workers at 4,000 factories in major cities and city outskirts.

"Manufacturers had staunchly resisted any significant wage increase.

"Garments made in Bangladesh are mostly exported to the United States and Europe earning the country more than $12 billion a year - nearly 80 per cent of the country's exports. The following companies are bulk importers from Bangladesh: Wal-Mart, Tesco, H&M, Zara, Carrefour, Gap, Metro, JCPenney, Marks & Spencer, Kohl's, Levi Strauss and Tommy Hilfiger.

"Witnesses to the clashes said workers vandalised several roadside business and had put up barricades to disrupt traffic on two major highways for hours.

"They said more than 100 garment workers and 20 policemen were injured when violence erupted in the Savar area, 30km north of Dhaka, when the baton-wielding policemen in riot gear tried to remove the highway blockades.

"Police said the 'agitators' had also vandalised 50 vehicles including 10 police cars in Savar area.

"Highways were also blockaded in Narayanganj, 15km south of Dhaka."

Bangladeshi slave workers rise up

THE brutal reality of life for the Bangladeshi workers who make cheap clothes for Britain's high streets was exposed yesterday, reports the Daily Record.

It says: "Thousands of them took to the streets of the capital, Dhaka, yesterday to demand a rise in wages as low as £9 a month - only to be met by burly riot cops with batons.

"The police targeted kids caught up in the violence. One cop swung his baton at a tiny child, towering over his victim as the boy crouched in terror.

"And another viciously kicked another skinny urchin while the youngster lay screaming on the ground.

"More than 15,000 workers joined the protests, said to have begun after a boss beat up a female employee.

"The trouble spread to dozens of factories and the cops hit back with water cannon and tear gas as the demonstrators blocked roads. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 policemen, were injured.

"Dhaka's deputy police commissioner, Salim Jahangir, said: 'There are 15,000 to 20,000 workers massing in the street. All workers in the area have walked out'.

"The workers - 90 per cent of whom are women - want at least £48 a month.

"But the official minimum monthly wage is just £17. Many bosses ignore it, and the charity War On Want say some workers get only £9. Workers' leaders claim many women are forced to work 16 hours a day, then wait up to two months to be paid."