At least five people were killed and dozens injured in Bangladesh on Saturday after police opened fire on a mob of workers protesting unpaid wages and a pay rise at a China-backed power plant, officials and police said.
Police opened fire after about 2,000 of the protesters began throwing bricks and stones at officers at the construction site of the coal-fired plant in the southeastern city of Chittagong, local police officer Azizul Islam told Reuters.
Four protesters died on the spot and another died in the hospital, he said.
“We are trying to get the situation under control,” Islam said, adding that among the injured were at least six police officers.
The workers attacked and set fire to several buildings at the 1,320 megawatt power plant, 265 km southeast of the capital, Dhaka, he added.
Local government official Saiduzzaman Chowdhury said the workers were protesting unpaid wages and pushing for pay increases and fewer hours during the holy month of Ramadan, which began this week, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
Several of the injured workers had gunshot wounds and were taken to a hospital in Chittagong, he said, adding that the five people killed were all shot.
The $ 2.4 billion power plant is a major source of foreign investment in Bangladesh, and is part of a series of projects pushing Beijing to forge closer ties with Dhaka.
In 2016, China’s SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction signed a deal with S Alam Group, a Bangladeshi conglomerate responsible for construction work on the site.
That year, four protesters who opposed the construction were killed when police opened fire during clashes between villagers demonstrating both for and against the project.
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