RMG protests turn violent for third day; 29 held, 26 jailed

Garment workers’ protests demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000 continued for a third consecutive day on Monday, with clashes with police, road blockades, arson and vandalism in Dhaka, Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur and Narayanganj, despite appeals from government high-ups and labour leaders to return to work and shun violence after the government formed a six-member Minimum Wage Board.
Garment owners said production at nearly 700 factories was suspended, affecting more than 17 lakh workers, while at least 264 factories in Savar and Ashulia and more than 150 in Gazipur declared holidays. In Mirpur, police arrested 29 people over the violence, and a court sent 26 of them to jail.

Ashulia 
Clashes began after 10am around Narsinghpur and Nishchintapur on the Abdullahpur-Baipail road. Workers at New Age Garments stopped work around 9:30am, demanding the Tk30,000 minimum wage and other benefits. The protest later spread to the Ananta and Ha-Meem factories.
Police fired tear gas and sound grenades, and workers responded by throwing bricks. Around 11:10am, a factory’s covered van was set on fire in Narsinghpur. Assistant Superintendent of Police Shoaib Ahmed of Industrial Police-1 was injured.
Ashulia police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Tarikul Islam said workers occupied the Nabinagar-Chandra and Baipail-Abdullahpur roads but police persuaded them to leave. He confirmed that two New Age workers were arrested on Sunday and said extra police had been deployed.
Khairul Mamun Mintu, legal affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garment and Sweater Workers Trade Union Centre, condemned the arrests, saying workers at several factories had stopped work.

Gazipur
Workers blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway at Palli Bidyut from 8:00am, burning scrap fabric, bamboo and wood. In the Naojor area, they set fire to a police van and vandalised two other vehicles, bringing traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to a halt.
Police and BGB personnel fired tear gas and sound grenades. Workers left the highway around noon and traffic returned to normal. More than 150 factories remained closed.

Narayanganj
Workers from Shibu Market, Kathar Pool and adjacent areas blocked both sides of the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road and the overpass, stranding commuters for an hour. Additional Superintendent of Police Tarek Al Mehedi said police were trying to persuade them to leave.

Mirpur
For the third day, police dispersed gatherings in Mirpur-14, Mirpur-2 and Mirpur-10 with chases and tear gas. Workers from Shewrapara, Mirpur-6, Purobi and Rupnagar tried to gather near Mirpur-10 but were stopped. Riot-control vehicles and water cannons were kept ready there, and traffic remained normal.
DMP Mirpur Division Deputy Commissioner Abu Naser Rikabdar said 29 people had been arrested by Monday, up from 19 on Sunday evening. Four cases were filed against around 10,500 unidentified people. One, with Mirpur Model Police Station, concerns an attack on a traffic police box and assaults on police personnel, and names 3,000 unidentified accused. The other three, filed with Pallabi Police Station over arson, assaults, obstruction of government work and vandalism of traffic police boxes, name between 2,000 and 2,500 each.
Mirpur Model OC Hafizur Rahman said six people had been arrested there and police were examining CCTV footage. Pallabi OC Jalal Uddin said 16 had been arrested in cases filed with his station.
A court sent 26 of the 29 to jail on Monday afternoon: 13 accused in anti-terrorism cases filed with Pallabi, seven in cases under the Explosives Act and the Penal Code, and six in an anti-terrorism case filed with Mirpur Model.
Sirajganj Fashion Limited and Deshwan Apparels in Mirpur-2’s Barobagh were vandalised between 10:00am and 10:30am. Deshwan CEO Mohammad Jahangir Hossain said the attackers were outsiders and that the factory had stayed open to meet shipment deadlines and pay salaries.
At Sirajganj Fashion, attackers damaged the reception, CCTV monitors, furniture, glass, attendance machines and the fourth floor, and glass injured a security guard’s hand. HR chief Sirajul Islam said more than 100 outsiders attacked while workers were on duty, apparently because the factory remained open. Some wore ID cards, but his workers were not involved, he said. A temporary closure notice was later displayed.
Police arrested Rajib Chandra Das in Uttara Sector 9 on Sunday night over a Facebook post claiming responsibility for burning a police vehicle near Mirpur-11 metro station. Uttara West OC Khalid Mansur said he was handed over to Pallabi police, where a case had been filed.

Police, government allege outside hand
Visiting the affected areas around 4:00pm, Dhaka Range DIG Md Mostafizur Rahman and Dhaka SP Shamima Parveen alleged that outside groups and wider conspiracies were behind the violence in Savar and Ashulia, saying some were trying to destabilise the industrial belt.
Mostafizur urged workers to return to their jobs, assuring them of police protection, and said instigators would face legal action regardless of political affiliation. Shamima said police were examining CCTV footage, journalists’ videos and intelligence reports, and that security had been strengthened across Savar, Ashulia, the EPZ and Hemayetpur.
Briefing reporters at the Secretariat after a meeting with BGMEA, BKMEA and law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the Awami League and some factory owners were involved in the unrest “in the name of minimum wage hike”.
“Garment industry owners who are involved in the politics of the Awami League (whose activities are banned) are working to create unrest. It is a matter of regret that some factory owners are involved in this. Some former Members of Parliament and Ministers of State are also involved,” he said.
He said some owners had deliberately shut their factories, and that owners’ association leaders had been asked to provide a list of them. A list of labour leaders and organisations allegedly involved had also been requested. Instigators, he warned, would be dealt with an “iron fist”. Several people allegedly involved in organising disruption had been detained, and video footage and digital evidence collected, he added.
“We want to make it crystal clear: this government is pro-industry, pro-investment and pro-business,” Salahuddin said. “At the same time, we will take every step necessary to generate employment, protect workers’ welfare and ensure strict adherence to the rule of law.”
The minister said no factory would be allowed to be forcibly shut down, and that a monitoring system, including the Suraksha App and a control room at Police Headquarters, had been introduced. He said the process of forming a new wage board, required every three years, began weeks ago, and that delays by labour organisations in submitting nominees had slowed it.
Meanwhile, BNP Acting Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday accused what he called “defeated forces” of instigating readymade garment workers by sparking misinformation to create instability in the country.
Rizvi alleged that members of Chhatra League and Jubo League, student and youth fronts of the ousted Awami League, were involved in the recent workers’ unrest, citing the arrest of 11 people in connection with the incident.
Rizvi, also political adviser to the prime minister, made the allegation while addressing a view exchange meeting with journalists at a hotel in Dargah Gate area of Sylhet.

Union leaders urge return to work
The IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC) urged workers in Gazipur, Mirpur, Ashulia and surrounding areas to return immediately, following the government’s gazette notification on 1 November forming a six-member Minimum Wage Board.
In a statement, IBC President Mir Abul Kalam Azad and General Secretary Salauddin Shapon said they were seriously concerned that unrest had continued after the board’s formation.
They warned that third-party vested interest groups were trying to exploit workers’ demands. “Genuine workers can never be involved in destroying the industry,” the IBC said, adding that continued unrest would erode Bangladesh’s competitiveness and risk market share.
At a press conference at Labour Bhaban, Babul Akhter, workers’ representative on the board, demanded that the new minimum wage take effect from January 2027, and urged consecutive board meetings with only one or two days between sessions, even overnight if necessary. 
“We will work on the wage board in such a way that workers get the increased wages in hand from next January. There is no reason for delay in this regard,” he said.
Sammilita Garments Sramik Federation President Nazma Akter said factory vandalism in the name of the workers’ movement was unacceptable and would hurt the economy. 
She alleged that outsiders and people from disadvantaged groups were entering factories and causing damage, using closures and unpaid wages as excuses. 

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