In Gazipur, a tragic incident unfolded as law enforcement authorities opened fire on protesting garment workers demanding a minimum monthly wage of Taka 23,000, just a day after it was set at Taka 12,500.
The violence reportedly resulted in the death of a garment worker and left 30 others injured.
The unrest began around 8:30 am on Wednesday, 8th October when workers started protests at various locations in Gazipur even as reports from police and locals indicate that the demonstrators resorted to vandalizing factories in an attempt to mobilise workers from those establishments.
According to Mahbub Alam, the commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police, the situation escalated as workers threw bricks at law enforcement.
In response, teargas shells, rubber bullets, and sound grenades were employed by the authorities.
The tension peaked around 4:00 pm when protesters blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways in the Nawjor area following which law enforcement agencies, including industrial police, retaliated by using teargas shells, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to disperse the crowd even if the highways remained blocked until 6:00 pm.