“Bangladesh and China power plant workers in deadly mass brawl”, 19 June 2019

Police in Bangladesh have broken up a fight between hundreds of Chinese and Bangladeshi workers at the site of a partly-built China-funded power plant… Violence erupted after a Bangladeshi worker fell to his death, and local workers reportedly accused the Chinese of trying to cover up the incident…

Chinese firms have invested heavily in Bangladesh in recent years, funding bridges, roads and power plants. Correspondents say that in some areas, the large number of Chinese workers has led to tensions with local communities.

About 6,000 workers - 2,000 of them Chinese - are employed at the plant in Patuakhali, about 200km (124 miles) from the capital Dhaka, police said. Local police chief Moinul Hasan told BBC Bengali that a Bangladeshi worker had died after falling from a height… and an argument then broke out between the two groups of workers before erupting into violence. More than a dozen workers were injured, six of them Chinese, police added. One of the Chinese workers suffered head injuries and later died in hospital. Regional administrator Ram Chandra Das said an investigation had been launched into the incident. No arrests were made and the situation is now calm, he told AFP news agency.

Tensions involving local people and Chinese-funded projects have spilled over before. In 2016, police opened fire on villagers in south-eastern Bangladesh as they protested against the construction of two China-backed power plants. Four people were killed…