Police and intelligence agencies suspect a planned anti-government campaign behind escalating garment workers’ protests that forced at least 690 factories employing more than 17 lakh workers to suspend production on Monday.
Several police officials alleged that four former MPs and a former mayor had instigated the unrest, while intelligence agencies identified suspected organisers through CCTV footage.
Workers demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000 continued demonstrations, road blockades and clashes with police across Dhaka, Gazipur, Savar, Ashulia and Narayanganj.
More than 30 police personnel and over 50 civilians, including a schoolboy, were injured. Police detained 92 people across Dhaka, Gazipur and Ashulia, while vandalism and arson prompted multiple cases against thousands of individuals.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Vice-President Mizanur Rahman said 670 member factories employing around 16.80 lakh workers had suspended production by 11:30am because workers refused to report for work.
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) reported closures at another 20 factories in Narayanganj, employing more than 50,000 workers.
Authorities suspended operations amid demonstrations, workers’ refusal to report for duty, and fears of attacks on factory owners.
Gazipur and the Mymensingh Road industrial area were the worst affected, with 382 factories employing around nine lakh workers closed, according to BGMEA. Another 223 factories remained shut in Ashulia and Zirabo, 65 in Mirpur and around 20 in Narayanganj.
BKMEA Executive President Fazlee Shamim Ehsan said owners of relatively large factories in Narayanganj had been forced to suspend production.
The closures came despite the formation of a wage board on Sunday, with the government promising a new wage structure by December.
The protests began in Uttara’s Azampur area on 12 October. Demonstrations and blockades continued before workers clashed with police on 17 October. The unrest subsequently spread across major industrial areas.
Police allege political instigation
Several police officials alleged that former Gazipur City Corporation mayor Jahangir Alam, former MP Saiful Islam in Savar-Ashulia, former MPs Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil and Ilias Uddin Mollah in Dhaka, and former MP Shamim Osman in Narayanganj had instigated the unrest.
They claimed political activists had infiltrated groups of workers to provoke violence and carry out targeted vandalism and arson.
Dhaka Range DIG Mostafizur Rahman told TIMES, “Since the formation of the wage board, the workers are no longer part of the movement. Those who are now on the streets in the name of the movement are seeking to create disorder.” He added that they were working to identify these individuals and bring them under the law.
Intelligence agencies identified suspected organisers in Mirpur, Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur and Narayanganj and launched operations to locate them.
Concerns about a possible conspiracy behind the continuing protests were also raised during meetings with factory owners and labour leaders, despite the formation of the wage board.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed met factory owners at the Secretariat on Monday morning and labour organisation leaders in the afternoon.
He subsequently claimed that genuine garment workers and trade union leaders were not involved in the violence.
According to the minister, CCTV and video footage showed masked opportunists and supporters of fascists infiltrating demonstrations, chanting misleading slogans and inciting violence for political gain with an aim to damage the industrial sector.
Police were working to bring those responsible to justice, he said.
BNP acting secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that forces inside and outside Bangladesh were exploiting labour unrest to destabilise the government and mislead workers.
“The defeated forces of the country are spreading various forms of provocation from a neighbouring country,” he said. “Some political forces inside the country are also spreading propaganda to destabilise the new government.”
Meanwhile, BNP leaders and activists, along with members of affiliated organisations, took up positions on roads in Mirpur and Gazipur, carrying sticks alongside police and saying they intended to prevent sabotage.
Factories vandalised in Mirpur
Police dispersed protesting workers attempting to gather at Mirpur-10 on Monday.
Around 9am, workers assembled in Mirpur-14 and attempted to march towards the Mirpur-10 roundabout, but police chased them away.
Around 11am, workers from the Shialbari and Purabi areas of Mirpur-2 and Mirpur-6 attempted to reach Mirpur-10 via Mirpur-2. Police fired tear gas to disperse them.
Earlier, at around 10:30am, Sirajganj Fashion Limited and Deshwan Apparels were vandalised in Barobagh, Mirpur-2.
At Sirajganj Fashion, attackers damaged CCTV monitors, chairs, tables and digital attendance machines. A security guard was injured.
Factory Security Supervisor Moazzem Hossain said 100-150 people had carried out the attack.
Human Resources Officer Sirajul Islam alleged that more than 100 outsiders had attacked the factory, accusing the management of keeping it open, while employees were working.
Deshwan Apparels CEO Jahangir Hossain said outsiders had thrown bricks and vandalised the premises.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Joint Commissioner (Crime and Operations-North) Md Mahidul Islam warned of legal action against anyone threatening public safety or damaging state property.
Over 10,000 accused in five Dhaka cases
Police filed five cases against more than 10,000 unidentified people over Sunday’s violence in Mirpur.
DMP Mirpur Division Deputy Commissioner Abu Naser Rikabdar said three cases have been filed with Pallabi Police Station and one each with Mirpur Model and Kafrul police stations.
More than 60 people have been arrested, including one in Uttara, he said, adding that further cases were expected.
Mirpur Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Hafizur Rahman said the case filed with his station, involving attacks on police and vandalism of a traffic police box, named 3,000 unidentified suspects.
According to Pallabi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Jalal Uddin, the three cases filed with his station concerned arson attacks on police vehicles, assaults on police officers, obstruction of government duties and vandalism of a traffic police box.
Each case named between 2,000 and 2,500 unidentified people as accused. Sixteen people had been arrested in connection with the cases.
Police were examining CCTV footage to identify more suspects.
Across Dhaka, 61 arrests were reported. Another case was filed with Rupnagar Police Station on Monday night.
Narayanganj road blocked
Garment workers blocked the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road at Shibu Market around 12:30pm on Monday.
Workers from Shibu Market, Katharpool and nearby factories occupied both sides of the road, including the overpass, stranding hundreds of vehicles and causing prolonged disruption.
Protesters said their wages were insufficient to support their families. They complained that government employees’ salaries had increased while garment workers’ wages had remained unchanged for a long time.
Workers blocked the Dhaka-Tangail Highway from around 7:30am in the Mouchak, Safipur and Palli Bidyut areas of Kaliakair.
Police vehicle torched in Gazipur
In Chandra Palli Bidyut, three police vehicles were vandalised, and another was set on fire. A garment waste warehouse was also set ablaze.
A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member was injured after being struck by a stone, while three journalists were attacked while covering the protests.
Industrial Police said 28 police personnel and several others had been injured over two days.
Ten BGB platoons and 21 executive magistrates were deployed.
Police filed three cases against around 4,000 people over violence, vandalism and arson. Industrial Police filed two cases, while Gazipur Metropolitan Police filed one.
Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent Amjad Hossain said the incidents occurred in Naojor on Monday afternoon.
District and metropolitan police had arrested 30 people, he said. Traffic resumed within 30-60 minutes of the start of the protests at different locations.
Clashes spread across Savar, Ashulia
Police clashed with workers outside Al-Muslim Group in Ulail, Savar municipality, on Monday morning and chased AKS Group workers demonstrating in Hemayetpur.
Workers blocked the Nabinagar-Chandra Road in Baroipara, where a police officer was injured by bricks thrown during the demonstrations. Two people were detained.
Authorities declared general holidays across at least 264 factories in Savar and Ashulia following the clashes.
Around 9:30am, New Age Group workers stopped work and demonstrated outside their factory, with protests spreading to neighbouring factories.
Police fired tear gas outside a Ha-Meem Group factory, triggering repeated chases, counter-chases and brick-throwing.
Workers also demonstrated outside Bengal Plastic Pipes Limited in Zirabo, throwing bricks towards the factory.
Further protests began around 10am in Ghoshbagh on the Abdullahpur-Baipail Road.
Around 11:30am, a covered van was set on fire during clashes between workers and police in Narsinghpur.
Ashulia Industrial Police-1 Superintendent Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan said workers had left several factories without working and brought out employees from neighbouring factories where production was continuing.
Most factories in Narsinghpur, Bishmile and Kathgara had declared general holidays, he said, adding that police had information about outsiders and miscreants joining the protests.
Schoolboy injured in Zirani
Nuruzzaman Sami, 10, a fifth-grade student at BKSP Public School, was injured by a brick fragment during protests in Zirani on Monday afternoon.
He was taken to Nasiruddin Memorial Hospital with a bleeding head injury.
Hospital staff member Bithi Akter said his parents took him home after he received emergency treatment.
