DHAKA Reuter: Striking Bangladeshi journalists and press workers burned copies of two pro government dailies that defied an indefinite shut- down of the country’s major newspapers police said.
They said the strikers entered offices of Dainik Janata and Inquilab and set copies of papers on fire after taking them out of the print line.
The Bangladesh Newspapers Owners Association in a statement complained police stood by as silent spectators during the incident. But a police spokesman told reporters that they did not intervene for fear of worsening the situation.
The owners said the two newspapers employees did not walk out because they were not members of the striking trade unions.
More than 5000 journalists and print workers went on indefinite strike to force the re-opening of the Bangladesh Observer a leading English language daily closed since June by a Labour dispute.
Labour leaders said the complete shutdown was the last re- course left to force a settlement but the owner’s statement called the strike illegal and mysterious because the newspapers had no direct dispute with the workers.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 26, 1986
