DHAKA: A different dimension was added to labour unrest as a horde of marauders ran riot through rich men’s area during demonstrations staged by garment workers Friday in the capital.       

“Smash the thrones of the rich”, chanted the demonstrators as they marched from Mohakhali crossing towards the posh Gulshan area, stoning and clubbing imposing establishments along the different ways they moved through.          

“It looked like a whirlwind, as the unruly people ran through different ways towards Gulshan shouting and ransacking shops and stoning some banks,” says a spot account of the melee.            

More than a thousand shops and business establishments in the high-society Gulshan and adjacent Mohakhali area were reported damaged.

Witnesses and police said the demonstrators ransacked sales centers of Amban Complex, DHS Motors of Honda Private Car Company, Jara Fashion Mall and some shops of Kaderia Tower.

Also, they vandalized the glittering structures like Navana Shopping Mall, Gulshan Shopping Complex, Shainpukur sales center, Silver Tower, Uday Tower, Grameen Phone center, offices several banks and Agora Shopping Mall.

Manager of LG-Butterfly Sales Center Mosharaf Hossain told banglanews24.com.bd, “The attackers vandalized shops and businesses in a freestyle as very few vehicles were on the roads because of holiday.”

In their egalitarian stance the workers-attackers also ransacked some imposing sales centers of luxury cars, including BMW and Mercedes, as apparel-sector labour organizations often fulminate that owners-businessmen drive high-end vehicles while they fight for minimum pay.

The agitators also attacked security guards of the shops and business centers, they added.

Security guard of Subastu Imam Square Md Awal gave an eyewitness account of the worst rampage in recent times: “They ran a riot from about 10 am without facing obstruction.”

Later the agitators left the areas as soon as police reinforcements rushed in at around 11:00am.

Workers brought out procession in the areas rejecting the new wage scale declared by the government Thursday. “Some shops were looted,” said one of the sources.

Earlier in the morning, the angry workers put barricades on roads in Tejgaon, Mahakhali and Gulshan areas to press home their demand for Tk 5,000 as minimum wage.  

Tensions escalated in the entire area as the RMG workers took to the street at around 9am in front of Mahakhali bus stand and staged demonstration.

Afterwards, the procession of the agitating workers marched towards the Gulshan 1 and 2 areas and vandalized more than thousand shops and business centers on both sides of the roads.

The government Thursday announced Tk 3,000 as the minimum wage for readymade garment workers, nearly doubling the amount from Tk 1,662.50, although the labour side stuck to their guns for higher pay.

BDST: 1954 HRS. JULY 30, 2010.