At least five people were killed and dozens injured in Bangladesh on Saturday after police opened fire on a crowd of workers demanding unpaid wages and a pay rise at a Chinese power station, officials and police said.
Police opened fire after about 2,000 of the protesters bricks and stones at officers started throwing on the construction site of the coal plant in the southeastern city Chittagong, local police official, Azizul Islam, told Reuters.
Four protesters were killed at the scene and another was killed at the hospital, he said.
“We are trying to control the situation,” Islam said, adding that there were at least six police officers among the injured.
The workers attacked several buildings and set them on fire at the 1,320 megawatts power station, 265 km southeast of the capital, Dhaka.
Local government official Saiduzzaman Chowdhury said the workers were protesting over unpaid wages and that they were pushing for a wage increase and reduction of hours during the holy month of Ramadan, which began this week, where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
Several of the injured workers had gunshot wounds and were taken to a hospital in Chittagong, adding that the five people killed were all shot.
The $ 2.4 billion power station is a major source of foreign investment in Bangladesh, and one of a series of projects that Beijing is working to cultivate closer ties with Dhaka.
In 2016, China’s SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction signed an agreement with S Alam Group, a Bangladeshi conglomerate responsible for on – site construction work.
During the year, four protesters opposed to its construction were killed when police opened fire during clashes between villagers protesting for and against the project.
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