Ashulia protests turn violent: Teargas, sound grenade fired

Garment workers demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000 staged fresh protests in Ashulia, Savar, on Monday, triggering repeated clashes with police. Law enforcers fired tear gas shells and sound grenades to disperse protesters, while a covered van parked beside a road was set on fire during the unrest.

According to eyewitnesses and local sources, workers at a factory in the Narsinghpur area of Ashulia stopped work and took to the streets at around 9:30 am. They later gathered in front of several nearby factories and threw bricks and stones at some of them. After 10 am, clashes broke out when workers attempted to block the Abdullahpur-Baipail road in the Narsinghpur and Nishchintapur areas.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shoaib Ahmed of Industrial Police-1 was injured in the clashes. Several workers and passers-by were also injured, according to reports in local media.

ASP Mominul Islam Bhuiyan of Ashulia Industrial Police said additional police personnel had been deployed across the industrial zone. Workers from several factories had stopped work and taken to the streets, he said, adding that efforts were underway to restore calm. He also said a group of workers had thrown bricks and stones at Artistic Design Ltd.

In the wake of the protests, the Sharmin Group factory in Ashulia was declared closed. Most factories located along the roads also announced general holidays for security reasons.

Labour unrest has spread beyond Ashulia. In Kaliakair, Gazipur, workers blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway for the fourth consecutive day. Demonstrators took to the roads from the morning in Chandura, Pallibidyut, Harinhati and Safipur, bringing traffic on the highway to a halt. Earlier, protests, road blockades and clashes with police were also reported in Mirpur in the capital.

Against this backdrop, 10 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel have been deployed in Gazipur. District Commissioner Nurul Karim Bhuiyan said BGB members were carrying out field duties under the supervision of 21 executive magistrates.

Meanwhile, Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury announced at a press conference at the Secretariat on Sunday that a six-member minimum wage board had been formed to review garment workers' wages. He urged workers to leave the streets and return to their workplaces. However, labour unrest has continued in several industrial areas despite the formation of the board.