Karnataka: Competing unions escalated violence?

Bengaluru: The game of one-upmanship among various garment factory labour unions could have led violence escalating on the second day of the garment factory workers’ strike on Tuesday. Even as there were peaceful protests on Mysore Road and North Bengaluru on Monday, clusters of workers from factories in Southeast Bengaluru resorted stone-throwing and violence at the Bommanahalli traffic junction, leading to lathi-charge and lobbing of teargas shells by the police.

Taking a cue from the “success” of Monday protests, several garment factory labour unions from Peenya, Yeshwantpur, Jalahalli and Tumakuru Road in North Bengaluru adopted a similar tactic, but indulged in bigger road blockades and violence to send out  a message to other unions that they were more powerful.

Different garment factory workers have different equations with their managements. While a few companies used their legal teams to get arrested workers out on bail, others allowed the police to enter factories and arrest their staff.

On Thursday, the Peenya police picked up workers when they arrived at their workplace. Two women and nine men were taken to police stations for questioning, said a labour union leader.

Traffic jams could have stopped RAF from reaching spot
Even if the Rapid Action Force (RAF) had arrived on Tuesday morning they would not have been able to reach the spot on time and control the violence because of the city’s traffic congestion and lack of road space.

“Traffic in Bengaluru is a nightmare and added to that is the fact that there is no road space for the quick response teams (QRTs) to reach the spot on time, which is the most important aspect of riot control. In riots, it is impossible to handle traffic and if there is not enough space on the roads it can be disastrous for any relief and rescue operation. The RAF has suggested to the government that the QRTs including them should be given foldable bicycles and motorcycles for quick movement instead of the bulky four wheelers, in which they travel. Bicycles are far better than four wheelers and are effectively used by the QRTs in developed countries like the United Kingdom,” said an official source.

He said that the traffic police should mark dedicated lanes across the city to be used only by response and delivery agencies during emergencies. “Besides, the police should use unmanned aerial vehicles to track any emergency situations. On Tuesday if they had used UAVs they would have known where and when the crowds had gathered and stopped the traffic. The entire two-day violence could have been handled with better anti-riot equipment and everything could have been videographed,” the officer said.

Another said that Pakistan is far better equipped to handle riots. The RAF is a specialised wing of the Central Reserve Police Force to handle riots.  “They have requested the state government to grant them some land for an RAF facility here,” he said.