From Al Jazeera:
Bangladesh workers riot over payWhy did Inspector Shafiqul Alam not just say, factually, that police “fired rubber bullets”? Why did he say that they “had to fire rubber bullets”? Granted, this police spokesperson is hardly alone in using this ideological euphemism. Police spokespeople in many countries do so. Even worse, theoretically “fair and balanced media” use this euphemism as well, whenever police kill people.At least two people have been killed and scores injured in clashes between textile workers and police in Bangladesh, police have said.
The violence broke out as workers protested over unpaid salaries in the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, on Saturday.
“Law-enforcers had to fire rubber bullets from shot guns to disperse the workers who hurled stones and bricks at our officers,” Shafiqul Alam, a police inspector, said.
“So far two people have died.”See also here. And here.Workers coming to work at the Nippon Garments factory north of Dhaka found a notice at the gate saying authorities were closing the factory for a month, citing losses and falling orders.
Angry protest
They then took to the streets to protest, and police said as many as 15,000 people were involved in the protests.
Maleka Begum, a police official, said at least 100 workers and a number of police officers were injured in the clashes.
The protesters were demanding three months’ back pay, she said.
Bangladesh have ordered an independent probe into clashes between riot police and protesting garment factory staff on Saturday that left two workers dead and around 100 injured: here.
A gay Bangladeshi couple have been battling to gain citizenship in Australia for 10 years. The Refugee Review Tribunal knocked back their claims three times, and three times a higher court has overturned the rulings: here.
The Bangladeshi finance minister recently warned that some 20 million Bangladeshis - one-sixth of the population - are threatened with displacement through rising sea levels: here.
