Garment workers in Bangladesh on Sunday staged violent protests in the capital Dhaka and its outskirts over their longstanding demand for higher pay, prompting the Government to announce the formation of a wage board, officials and media reports said.
Slogan-chanting protestors torched a police vehicle in the Capital, set on fire a police box in Gazipur, where they also blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway, demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 Bangladeshi Taka (approx Rs 23,000), police and witnesses said.
Authorities deployed five platoons of paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel to help bring the situation under control in the suburban industrial district, as workers carrying sticks occupied several points along the highway passing through Gazipur.
The country’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). Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel exporter after China, with garment exports reaching $38.70 billion in the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to the BGMEA. It exports garments to more than 150 countries.
According to reports, Sunday’s workers’ protest was the most violent in recent months, with demonstrators targeting police property and clashing with law enforcement personnel. Dhaka’s Mirpur and Ashulia areas and Gazipur’s Kalakoir industrial areas were major hotspots.
In multiple spots, protestors pelted stones and brickbats, prompting law enforcers to respond with tear gas, water cannons, and sound grenades alongside batons.
Newspapers including the Daily Star and Prothom Also reported the clashes wounded at least 50 people, including around 15 policemen. They also widely disrupted Dhaka’s metro rail services and vehicular movements in the Mirpur area and on Dhaka-Tangail Highway.
The situation prompted Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to call an emergency meeting with the home minister, labour minister and several other ministers in the evening to discuss escalating unrest, PMO officials said.
Earlier in the day, Labour and Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury announced the formation of a Wage Board headed by Senior District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman to review the current wage structure. He also urged protesting workers to return to work.
“We hope the board will convene at the earliest and carry this forward to a stage,” he said.
According to a Government statement, the board also includes workers’ representatives Babul Akhter of Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) and ruling party’s workers front Sramik Dal president Anwar Hossain.
The minister alleged that “a coterie seeking to destabilise the Government and cause public suffering has been exploiting our workers”, and added that discussions with labour leaders and factory owners on the issue had been ongoing for the last three days.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), meanwhile, arrested 11 leaders and activists of the banned Awami League of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of involvement in sabotage and vandalism “under the guise of the ongoing movement demanding a salary hike for garment workers”.
“Leaders and activists of the banned Awami League and its affiliates are attempting to carry out acts of sabotage using ordinary workers as a shield,” DMP’s detective branch Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Rakib Khan said, confirming the arrests.
He said a drive by police detectives was underway to identify and arrest more saboteurs.
In recent months, Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garments sector has seen smaller, sporadic sit-ins and highway blockades, mostly related to delayed monthly salary payments.