November 29, 2012: Thousands of workers protested for a third day on Wednesday after
Bangladesh's worst garment factory fire as police arrested three managers over claims
they stopped employees from leaving the burning plant. At least 5,000 workers left
their factories and joined the protests, pelting plants with stones and streaming
through the main streets of Ashulia industrial area, just outside Dhaka and home to
500 manufacturing outlets, police said. "They were demanding justice for the fire
victims and arrest of the Tazreen owner," said Faruq Ahmed, a senior Dhaka police
official. Ahmed was referring to the garment factory in Ashulia where a weekend
blaze left at least 110 people dead and more than 100 injured. Police fired a water
cannon to disperse the crowd while more than 100 factories declared an impromptu holiday
for the day, fearing the protests would spread into larger-scale industrial unrest. Police
have arrested three managers of the factory hit by the weekend fire, following charges
that they stopped workers from leaving the plant by insisting that an alarm was just
a routine fire drill. Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman said the managers allegedly
told panicked workers they had nothing to worry about when the fire started on Saturday
night. "All three are mid-level managers of Tazreen. Survivors told us they did
not allow the workers to escape the fire, saying it was a routine fire drill. There
are also allegations they even padlocked doors," Rahman said. The latest protests
on Wednesday were sparked by a "rumor over a fire alarm," Dhaka police official Ahmed
said.