Hundreds of laid-off employees of Grameenphone Ltd, under the banner of the Laid-Off and Deprived Grameenphone Workers Unity Council, staged a demonstration on Tuesday, blocking all five gates of GP House in Dhaka.

The protest confined over 1,500 employees inside the telecom company’s headquarters, as demonstrators demanded a 5% share of the company’s profits, delay penalties and reinstatement of their jobs.

The protesters began gathering in the morning, while security forces—including the Army, RAB and police—were deployed outside GP House by evening.

Demonstrators accused Grameenphone of violating labour laws by laying off 3,360 workers under the guise of voluntary retirement and delaying the payment of dividends and other entitlements.

A Grameenphone employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Daily Sun at 9:30pm that he and many colleagues had been unable to leave the office since 5pm as all gates remained blocked.

“The authorities have not given us any instructions on when we can go home,” he said.

Protesters claimed that GP CEO Yasir Azman did not engage with them and likely left the office without addressing their concerns. Leaders of the movement further alleged that Azman had laid-off nearly 3,300 permanent workers by leveraging political ties with the ruling Awami League.

They also accused Grameenphone of disregarding Supreme Court rulings and filing baseless lawsuits to deny workers their rightful claims.

In response, Grameenphone issued a statement saying,“Some former employees have been gathering in front of GP House over the last few days, raising various demands related to employment and benefits.”

“To our knowledge, most of them separated from Grameenphone long ago and have received their lawful entitlements. The demands they are making are currently the subject of various court cases. Grameenphone has high regard for the judicial process,” the statement added.