Police vehicle torched, factories shut: Unrest in Bangladesh as garment workers demand higher wages

Garment factory workers in Bangladesh's Dhaka and Gazipur cities reportedly staged protests on Sunday over their longstanding demand for better wages. The protests turned violent as demonstrators allegedly torched a police vehicle and attacked police personnel.Police personnel manage the crowd as garment workers block a road during a protest calling for higher minimum wages in Dhaka on November 1, 2026. (AFP)Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with violence in Dhaka, Bangladeshi news outlet The Daily Star reported. The workers also blocked Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur as they demanded a minimum monthly wage of BDT 30,000 (nearly INR 23,000).Five platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were reportedly deployed to help control the situation in Gazipur.Bangladesh's garment industry has around 4,000 registered factories and employs more than four million workers, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), cited by news agency PTI.Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China, with garment exports reaching USD 38.70 billion in the 2025-26 financial year, according to the BGMEA. Its garments are exported to more than 150 countries.Police vehicle torched, factories shutIn Mirpur area of Dhaka, protesters reportedly torched a police vehicle after a clash erupted between police and protesters. The workers left the roads around 2:00pm following efforts by police and locals who persuaded them to end the blockade.“Nineteen people have been detained so far. Multiple cases will be filed over the burning of a police vehicle and attacks on police personnel," Hasan Mohammad Nasher Rikabdar, deputy commissioner of Mirpur division, was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.A garment factory warehouse storing waste fabric and a pickup van were reportedly set on fire in Gazipur. At least 80 factories were shut in Dhaka and Gazipur amid the unrest over wages, Bangladeshi news outlet Prothom Alo reported.While the factories opened normally in the morning on Sunday, they were subsequently shut as situation reportedly began getting tense before noon. The workers stopped working and some staged a protest outside the factories, chanting slogans as they demanded higher wages.As the situation turned tense, many factories declared a holiday. Workers alleged that no representatives of the management had spoken to them about their demands, Khairul Mamun, legal affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Sweaters Workers Trade Union Centre, was quoted as saying by Prothom Alo.Govt to set up wage boardMeanwhile, labour and employment minister Ariful Haque Choudhury urged the protesting workers to return to work as he announced the formation of a new minimum wage board, the bdnews24 web portal reported.Choudhury said that the government is treating the demands of workers with the "utmost importance", the web portal reported."Their demand was a wage board; today their wage board has been formed. The board has been formed with the members they provided as representatives. Now, I hope they will leave the streets and return to their factories," Ariful was quoted as saying.The wage board is headed by Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman as its chairman. The owners' representatives on the board are ABM Shamsuddin, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), and Asif Ayub, joint secretary-general of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, Prothom Alo reported.The workers' representatives are Babul Akhter, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), and Anwar Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, it said.Professor Mosleh Uddin Ahmed of the Department of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka has been appointed as the board's independent representative, the report said."We have been informed about the formation of the wage board. We hope the government will begin the board's activities soon," the report quoted Babul Akhter as saying.