Around 40 garment factories closed in Savar-Ashulia amid worker protests, 13 detained

Amid worker protests, the authorities have declared holidays at around 40 ready-made garment factories in Savar and Ashulia. At the same time, workers of around 10 more factories have stopped work and are staying inside their factories.

Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Ashulia Industrial Police-1, confirmed the matter at around 10:45 on Tuesday morning (3 November). He said that in the prevailing situation, the authorities have declared holidays at around 40 factories. In addition, workers of around 10 factories have stopped work and are staying inside the factories.

Tension flared again in the industrial area on Tuesday amid protests continuing for several days over demands including setting the minimum wage of garment workers at Tk 30,000 and stopping illegal blacklisting.

From the morning, workers demonstrated at Nishchintapur, Narsinghpur and Unique areas of the Abdullahpur-Baipail road in Ashulia. At one stage, when police moved to clear them from the road, they hurled brickbats at the police. Police later fired tear shells to disperse the protesters.

Earlier in the morning, workers of several factories in different areas along the Abdullahpur-Baipail road stopped work and stayed inside their factories. Later, at around 8:30 in the morning, the authorities of several factories declared holidays.

Meanwhile, two cases have been filed with Ashulia Police Station over vandalism and arson during the worker protests of the past few days. In addition, the process of filing another case with Savar Model Police Station is under way. Police have so far detained 13 people in these incidents.

The officers-in-charge (OCs) of Savar Model Police Station and Ashulia Police Station confirmed this information at around 12 noon on Tuesday.

Savar Model Police Station OC Md Saiful Alam said the filing of a sabotage case over the bus arson incident in the Tetuljhora area of Savar last night is under process. Nine people have so far been detained on various charges including vandalism and arson.

Ashulia Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Harun-or-Rashid said two cases were filed with Ashulia Police Station last night over vandalism and arson. Four people have been arrested so far.