Army, industrial police and local police deployed to sensitive spots in Gazipur on Thursday morning to pre-empt a repeat of Wednesday’s violent protests by workers of closed Beximco apparel factories.

No protester was seen till 10am Thursday, said Md Abu Taleb, an additional superintendent at the Gazipur Industrial Police unit.

Holiday was declared for workers of Grameen Fabrics, owing to fire-related damages caused by Wednesday’s agitators.

Even though no worker from Beximco Garment Division’s closed factories took to the streets Thursday morning, a group of workers held a press conference in Dhaka to demand a reopening of the factories and payment of overdue salaries.

On Wednesday, workers from 16 closed garment factories located in Beximco Industrial Park, Gazipur, held two huge demonstrations at the Sun City field in the district to press home the demands of reopening their workstations and payment of dues.

According to the protesting workers and police, the first demonstration ended peacefully, but the second one in the afternoon turned violent abruptly.

At one point, the agitators blocked the Chandra-Nabinagar highway with logs, vandalised at least 50 vehicles, torched three buses and set fire to Grameen Fabrics apparel factory after breaking in.

Beximco Official and workers’ leader Md Sumon alleged outsiders infiltrated the protest movement to wreak havoc. Last year, the government, business leaders, and labour leaders alleged that outsiders, backed by the ousted Awami League regime, and Indian government agents, are working to destabilise the country’s flagship garment sector by repeatedly holding protests in the industrial areas, despite government assurances of fulfilling their demands.

It has been alleged that the conspirators are plotting to return the fascist Awami League force to power by unsettling the current government, and divert foreign apparel purchase orders to India. Interestingly, since the outbreak of labour unrest last year, India’s apparel exports have surged while Bangladesh’s have declined.