Police shoot garment worker dead after opening fire during wage protests
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"Bangladeshi woman killed after police open fire on protesting garment workers", November 9 2023
A Bangladeshi woman was shot dead on Wednesday after police in Dhaka opened fire during a protest held by garment workers demanding a wage increase. Anjuara Khatun, a 26-year-old machine operator at Islam Garments in Gazipur, was on her way home after the factory closed suddenly as a large group of protesters gathered nearby.
Her husband told reporters he heard gunshots when police opened fire on about 400 workers and then saw people carrying his wife’s motionless body...
Khatun ... is the third garment worker to be killed in the past two weeks, with hundreds of others badly injured, during clashes that have broken out in key production hubs in the capital, Dhaka ...
Among the dead are Rasel Hawlader, 26, who had worked as an electrician at Design Express Ltd, and Imran Hossain, 32, who died from critical injuries inside ABM Fashions, after it was set on fire.
... fresh violence broke out this week after the government’s announcement of a monthly wage increase to just 12,500 taka (£92) ... - half of what the workers are asking for.
[...]
Trade unionist Nazma Akhter ... [said] “Global fashion brands must also speak out,” ...“What use is all their talk of female empowerment when the women who make their clothes are being murdered on the streets?”