Garment workers again staged demonstrations and blocked roads in different parts of Gazipur on Tuesday, demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000 despite the formation of a minimum wage board by the government.
Police fired tear gas shells and sound grenades to disperse the protesters who blocked roads and set tyres on fire, disrupting traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, said witnesses.
Industrial police said most factories reopened on Tuesday morning and workers returned to their workplaces.
Industrial police SP Amzad Hossain said eight people have been arrested from different spots till noon.
Gazipur DC Nurul Karim Bhuiyan said around 7am, a group of workers attempted to block the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Chandra Palli Bidyut area and police fired tear gas shells to disperse them.
However, authorities of 20 factories declared holiday for various reasons.
Most workers at those factories returned home safely, they said.
Around 9am, workers set tyres on fire and staged demonstrations on the road in the Naojor area, bringing traffic on the Dhaka-Tangail highway to a halt.
On information, law enforcement personnel rushed to the spot and dispersed the protesters by firing tear gas shells and sound grenades.
Sporadic protests were also reported in Chandra Palli Bidyut and Mouchak areas.
The workers said they were continuing their movement to press home their demand for a minimum monthly wage of Tk 30,000, but insisted that they did not want vandalism or violence and preferred a peaceful resolution through dialogue.
Meanwhile, leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate organisations took positions at different points along the highways to prevent what they described as attempts by outsiders posing as workers to engage in violence.
Senior BNP leaders alleged that the banned Awami League had links to the violent protests and warned that they would politically resist such activities.
Law enforcement agencies remained on alert at different locations to prevent violence and destructive activities in the name of the workers’ movement.
Additional police and members of the Special Reserve Battalion (SRB) were deployed at different points along the Dhaka-Tangail highway.
Ten platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and 25 executive magistrates were also on duty on Tuesday.
Police said they had removed protesting workers whenever sporadic demonstrations or attempts to block roads were reported.
The situation was calm and traffic movement had returned to normal, they said.
Meanwhile, at least 4,000 people were named as accused in cases filed over the recent incidents of violence, vandalism and arson during the workers’ unrest. Police arrested 30 people in connection with the incidents.
In a separate move, the Kaliakair upazila administration issued a public notice urging owners of houses and apartments not to provide shelter to outsiders.