Bangladesh garment factories close as workers clash with police in pay protests

Dhaka experienced additional paramilitary forces deployed as garment workers' protests over higher wages persisted for a fifth day. Fifty garment factories in suburban Gazipur closed due to concerns over backlash following the death of an injured worker during the ongoing unrest. Protesters set ablaze a police van in the Savar industrial area, blocking the major Dhaka-Aricha highway.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists engaged in anti-protest campaigns, alleging infiltration by supporters of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's Information Affairs Adviser, Zahedur Rahman, accused Hasina of fueling the unrest, suggesting the opposition leader's death would prevent acts of sabotage.

The protests led Bangladesh to establish a six-member Wage Board, chaired by a senior district judge, which agreed to finalize its recommendation in a month. The new wage structure was implemented from December 1, despite the government initially planning for January. The protests spread to Dhaka's Mirpur, Uttara, Mirpur, Savar, Gazipur, and Narayanganj areas, with over 10,000 policemen deployed to maintain order.

Special Response Battalion, Armed Police Battalion, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime, and other intelligence agencies assisted the police.