Highway blocked in Gazipur on third day, clashes in Mirpur: five BGB platoons deployed in industrial belt

Garment factory workers in the Kaliakair area of Gazipur blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway for the third consecutive day on Sunday, demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000. Amid the ongoing labour unrest, five platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been deployed at various important points of the district to prevent any untoward situation and keep overall law and order in the industrial belt normal. In the capital's Mirpur, a second straight day of protests saw repeated clashes between police and workers.

Workers began the protest at around 8:30am on Sunday by taking position on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in the Mouchak area of Kaliakair upazila. Within a short time, workers from Sofipur, Ratanpur and various nearby readymade garment factories joined the highway protest in groups. As a result, vehicle movement on this busiest highway stopped, creating an extreme standstill.

To handle the situation, BGB members have been deployed in the Konabari, Mouchak, Sofipur, Chandra, Palli Bidyut, Naojor and Bhogra bypass areas of Gazipur. Gazipur Industrial Police superintendent Amjad Hossain said BGB members have been in the field since Sunday morning to strengthen security in the industrial area and that five platoons are currently on duty.

The industrial police superintendent added that the BGB is working in coordination with the industrial police to maintain discipline on the roads and restore a normal environment, and that the force's presence may be increased further depending on requirements on the ground.

Meanwhile, with the same demand, readymade garment workers blocked roads in the capital's Mirpur area for the second consecutive day. Workers began the protest at around 9am on Sunday by taking position at the Mirpur-10 roundabout. The movement quickly spread to Mirpur-11, Mirpur-12, Proshika Mor and adjoining areas.

As several thousand factory workers took to the streets, all vehicle movement on all the roads concerned came to a complete halt. At one stage, when police tried to remove the protesters from the road to normalise traffic, repeated chases, counter-chases and clashes broke out between the two sides. As police used tear gas, sound grenades and water cannon to try to disperse the protesters to bring the situation under control, the clashes intensified and extreme tension spread across the whole area.

On the situation on the ground, Pallabi police station officer-in-charge (OC) Jalal Uddin said workers had gathered at various important points in Mirpur since the morning and kept the roads blocked. Additional police have been deployed to restore overall order in the situation, and efforts are under way to reopen the roads to ease public suffering.

The labour ministry has already formed a minimum wage board to set a new pay structure for the workers. Amid the workers' movement, Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haq Chowdhury announced the formation of this board on Sunday. He also said steps would be taken to pay arrears by 7 November. The workers, however, are continuing the movement, firm on their demand for a Tk30,000 wage.

Earlier on Saturday (31 October), protests, work stoppages and road blockades by garment workers in the capital's Mirpur, Gazipur's Kaliakair and Savar's Ashulia — over demands including a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000 and an end to worker layoffs and blacklisting — caused widespread public suffering. In places the highway was blocked, creating long tailbacks; elsewhere there were clashes between workers and police. To control the situation, authorities declared a general holiday at more than 35 garment factories in Gazipur and Ashulia. Three bomb-like objects were recovered from in front of a factory in Ashulia.

On Saturday afternoon, worker unrest intensified in the Chandra Palli Bidyut area of Kaliakair upazila in Gazipur. Workers of the Interstop factory first began protesting without joining work. Workers from several nearby factories then joined them and at one stage blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway. As workers took position on the highway, vehicle movement stopped on both sides and a traffic jam formed over about seven kilometres. Long-distance buses, goods trucks and private cars were stuck. Fearing deterioration of the situation, holidays were declared at 10 to 12 factories in Palli Bidyut and nearby areas.

Kaliakair police station OC Shahidul Islam said the blockade was still continuing after 4:30pm. Later, in the course of efforts to remove the workers and tension with the police, chases and counter-chases took place. Police used sound grenades to control the situation.

In Mirpur on Saturday, several hundred workers from various garment factories took to the streets at around 10:45am and began protesting. The movement affected Mirpur-10, Mirpur-11, Mirpur-12, Proshika Mor, Mirpur-11.5 and Kalshi road. Pallabi police station OC Md Jalal Uddin said that when workers moved away from the Mirpur-10 roundabout at around 2:30pm, traffic in that area normalised after about four hours. Protests, however, continued on Mirpur-11.5 and Kalshi road until the afternoon. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Mirpur traffic division also reported disrupted traffic in these areas in a post on social media.

Worker unrest also spread across the Ashulia industrial area of Savar from Saturday morning. Workers of various factories in the Kathgara, Jirabo, Nishchintapur, Narsinghapur and Amtala areas began work stoppages and protests. Worker unrest was seen at several factories including New Age, Continental, AR Jeans, CDW, Al-Muslim and Naim Sweaters. Vandalism and brickbat-throwing took place at some factories at the time. Angry workers later took position in the Nishchintapur area of the Baipail-Abdullahpur road and stopped vehicle movement.

When police tried to remove them, chases and counter-chases took place. Police used tear gas and sound grenades to control the situation. Several people, including six police members, were reported injured. Because of the movement, a general holiday was declared at 25 garment factories in Kathgara, Jirabo, Narsinghapur and nearby areas. Three bomb-like objects were recovered from in front of the New Age factory in the Nishchintapur area. Syed Faisal Islam, additional superintendent of Industrial Police-1, said it could not be confirmed immediately who had left the objects there. The matter has been reported to Ashulia police station.

The protesting workers say it has become difficult to run their families on their current wages in a market of rising prices of essentials. They say they are struggling to meet the costs of house rent, food, treatment and their children's education.