Bangladesh building collapse: Police and protesters clash as anger builds

July 30, 2016

By Jill Langlois

Plain-clothed Bangladeshi police brandish sticks as they attempt to break up demonstrating garment workers following the collapse of an eight-storey building, in Dhaka on April 26, 2013. Bangladeshi police battled April 26 to control huge crowds of garment workers angrily protesting the death of more than 300 colleagues in a collapsed building as rescue efforts stretched into a third day.
Stringer

Bangladesh police have clashed with protesters calling for the death penalty for the owners of a garment factory that collapsed and killed as many as 390 workers.

The demonstrators also demanded better working environments in garment factories.

Several were reportedly wounded as police fired rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters, including garment workers.

Building owner Mohammed Sohel Rana is already in police custody. His assets have been frozen, as well as those of five factories that operated in the building. All six face allegations of negligence, illegal construction and persuading workers to enter the building a day after police evacuated it because of visible cracks in its structure.

When Rana entered the court to hear his charges, he was met by demonstrators and lawyers chanting, "Hang him! Hang him!"

Now that it has been declared there is no hope left of finding any other survivors in the building's rubble, heavy machinery has been brought in to clear the concrete and debris from the site in Savar, about 30km from the capital city of Dhaka.

Dozens of relatives are still waiting for news of missing loved ones six days after the building came crashing down while 3,000 people worked inside.

"What's the use of using heavy equipment if they cannot find the dead bodies?" asked a grief-stricken father who has been waiting on the streets near the site hoping for information about his son, who worked in one of the garment factories.