The Kafrul area in the capital city of Dhaka turned into a battlefield as garment workers, protesting layoffs and the closure of a local garment factory, clashed with police and army personnel in the morning on Thursday.
Police and witnesses said, the protesters vandalised and set fire to two vehicles of police and army.
Kazi Golam Mostafa, officer-in-charge of Kafrul Police Station, said that in response, police and army personnel took action to disperse them.
Gunshots were also heard from the spot, locals claimed. There were also videos circulating on social media of people running away as gunshots went off in the background.
Workers of a garment factory took to the streets around 8:30am protesting layoffs and closure of their factory. Later, workers from various factories in Mirpur-14 and Kachukhet areas joined them, the police official said.
The violence continued till around 10:00am, but the workers are still near the area and the situation was tense as of 10:45am, when our staff correspondent filed this report.
Two units of firefighters were working at the scene to extinguish the fire set on the vehicles by the protesters.
Due to the incident, traffic movement in the area was disrupted for about two hours.
Officials at Mirpur Traffic Division said vehicles were diverted to Bhasantek area from Mirpur-14 until 11:00am.
Only cars were permitted to run between Mirpur-10 and Mirpur-14 during the period with army vehicles stationed at Mirpur-14.
Traffic flow returned to normal around 11:00am.
