Protests Arise Amidst the Bangladesh Building Collapse as Death Toll Rises

There was a massive protest of over a thousand workers over the deaths of many in the Bangladesh building collapse that saw the death toll rise to more than 200 on Wednesday in the city of Dhaka.

As rescuers continue to hunt for possible survivors, grief turned to anger as the workers barricaded important roads in about three industrial areas outside the capital, with the factory owners having no choice but to give the workers the day off.

Some of the workers did damage to windows and vehicles,  before the police intervened, according to Wahidul Islam, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka police.

According to Police Chief of Gazipur district, hundreds of thousands of workers occupied roads for a while, and then went their separate ways. Some had sticks in their hands chanting aloud slogans such as ‘we want the execution of the garment factory owners.’

It was a bad day for those factory owners who bluntly refused to give their employees the day off, as the workers went on the offensive, according to Police Inspector Kamrul Islam. ‘‘They were protesting the deaths of the workers in Savar. Some even wanted to donate blood to their fellow workers,’’ he added.

Interior minister, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, told reporters at that the culprits will be punished for negligence of the fact that the building had violated construction codes, after he took a survey of the site.

‘‘Many people are still trapped in the building, which housed a number of garment factories employing hundreds of people’’, Army Brigadier General Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder said.

According to the surviving workers, the building developed cracks on Tuesday evening, which led to the evacuation of thousands of workers. But, the supervisors stubbornly ordered them to go back to the production lines.

While dozens of people have been found in the Rana Plaza trapped in a room and eventually rescued, the police and the government’s CDA (Capital Development Authority), according to local police chief Mohammed Asaduzzaman, have dragged the building owner to court over several cases of negligence.