Workers from a factory in the Panishail area of Gazipur's Kashimpur, which has been indefinitely shut down, launched a protest that turned violent, leading to a series of clashes with local residents.
In the midst of the chaos, enraged workers set fire to a factory named Amazon Knitwear near Jirani Bazar, transforming the area into a conflict zone.
Multiple local sources reported that for the past three days, employees of Beximco Industrial Park Limited in Panishail have been staging protests and blocking roads in the Chakrabarti area of Gazipur, demanding their overdue salaries.
In response, the authorities declared holidays for at least 20 surrounding factories.
Among these, Doreen Fashion Limited in Panishail was indefinitely closed from 1 November.
While the factory had briefly reopened on Sunday, it was shut again by the afternoon.
On Monday (18 November), workers of Doreen Fashion Limited arrived at the factory only to find a notice declaring its indefinite closure, prompting their demonstration.
They subsequently occupied the Jirani area of the Chandra-Nabinagar road, staging a blockade.
Simultaneously, Beximco workers were also protesting on a different section of the same road.
Tensions escalated around 11:30am, leading to an altercation and ultimately clashes between the workers of Doreen Fashion and Beximco, resulting in at least five people being injured.
The protesting workers then moved into the Panishail and Koltasuti areas, where they allegedly assaulted local residents, who retaliated by chasing the workers. The situation devolved into a prolonged three-way clash.
Amidst the turmoil, some workers from Doreen Fashion and Beximco reportedly set fire to a factory named Amazon Knitwear in the Koltasuti area.
Police, industrial security forces, and members of the army and fire services were deployed to the scene to bring the situation under control.
Abdullah Al Arifin, deputy director of Gazipur Fire Service, stated that two fire units were dispatched from Kashimpur to combat the blaze with assistance from the military.
Gazipur Industrial Police Superintendent Sarwar Alam confirmed the clashes between workers of Beximco and Doreen Fashion Limited, as well as with local residents, describing it as a three-way confrontation.
Order was eventually restored by the law enforcement agencies.
