Joint forces have been deployed to the Beximco factory site in Gazipur to prevent potential unrest
No protesters have been seen since Thursday morning, as workers call for the reopening of factories during a press conference in Dhaka.
On Thursday morning, the army, industrial police, and local police were deployed to sensitive areas in Gazipur to prevent a repeat of Wednesday's violent protests by workers from closed Beximco apparel factories.
By 10 a.m. Thursday, no protesters had been seen, according to Md Abu Taleb, an additional superintendent at the Gazipur Industrial Police unit.
A holiday was declared for workers at Grameen Fabrics due to fire damage caused by Wednesday’s agitators.
While no workers from the closed Beximco Garment Division factories participated in protests on Thursday morning, a group of workers held a press conference in Dhaka, demanding the factories' reopening and payment of overdue wages.
On Wednesday, workers from 16 closed garment factories at Beximco Industrial Park in Gazipur staged two large protests at Sun City field, calling for their workplaces to reopen and for their unpaid wages to be settled.
According to both the protesters and police, the first demonstration ended peacefully, but the second one in the afternoon turned violent without warning. The agitators blocked the Chandra-Nabinagar highway with logs, vandalized at least 50 vehicles, set fire to three buses, and torched the Grameen Fabrics factory after breaking in.
Beximco official Md Sumon and workers' leader claimed that outsiders had infiltrated the protests to cause chaos. Last year, the government, business leaders, and labor leaders accused external forces—allegedly backed by the ousted Awami League regime and Indian government agents—of trying to destabilize the country’s garment sector by instigating unrest in industrial areas, despite government assurances to meet workers' demands.
These conspirators were also alleged to be working to destabilize the current government, aiming to bring the fascist Awami League back to power and redirect foreign garment orders to India. Notably, since the labor unrest began last year, India’s apparel exports have surged while Bangladesh’s have seen a decline.
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