Dhaka, Activists of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday took to the streets in “anti-protest” campaigns while authorities deployed additional paramilitary forces as garment workers’ protests over higher wages continued for a fifth day.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association officials said 50 factories were shut down in suburban Gazipur fearing backlash over the death of a previously injured worker during the current wave of protests.
“I do not believe Sheikh Hasina will let the government remain in peace as long as she is alive. A special tribunal during the subsequent interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus later sentenced her to death in absentia. Hasina fled to India after her government was ousted in a student-led uprising on August 5, 2024. The government earlier said the new wage structure would take effect from January, but the intensified protests visibly prompted authorities to implement the new wage structure from December 1, according to BSS.
The protesters set ablaze a police van in suburban Savar industrial area during clashes that blocked the major Dhaka-Aricha highway, according to local media reports. BNP activists carrying bamboo sticks took to the streets to “maintain order and resist infiltrators” as the party earlier alleged that activists of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s now disbanded Awami League had infiltrated among the workers. As long as Hasina would remain alive, acts of sabotage could continue,” he told a media briefing, alleging that the ousted premier is an architect of the protests. The New Age newspaper carried a report headlined “BNP activists hunt for ‘AL infiltrators’ amid Savar RMG protests” while the Daily Star and other newspapers said the BNP activists were asked to stand by police to prevent acts of sabotage.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Information Affairs Adviser Zahedur Rahman on Tuesday accused Hasina of fuelling the unrest.
