The police dispersed ready-made garment workers in Dhaka’s Mirpur area on Thursday morning when they were staging demonstrations demanding an increase in their minimum wages.

Apparel workers took to the streets in front of the Purabi Cinema Hall in Pallabi around 8am. They marched towards the Mirpur-12 bus stand area with a procession and returned to the same spot.

They also marched towards Mirpur-10 intersection after around 9:30am. Around 11am, an incident of chase and counter-chase took place there between the law enforcers and the workers.

The police and the workers also chased each other in front of the Purabi Cinema Hall. The law enforcers lobbed tear gas shells and sound grenades to disperse the demonstrators.

In Gazipur, garment factory workers continued to protest today, reports UNB.

Around 8:30am, the workers tried to block the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway with a procession, but industrial police and cops from Basan police station fired sound grenades and tear gas shells to disperse them.

Sarwar Alam, superintendent of Gazipur Industrial Police-2, told reporters that a large number of police personnel have been deployed to bring the situation under control.

Workers have been urged not to vandalise and remain calm, he said.

Workers of TM Fashion Limited in the Bhogra Bypass area of Gazipur started the protest, and workers from nearby factories joined in.

Meanwhile, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel have been deployed in Dhaka and adjacent areas to strengthen security amid the ongoing workers' unrest in the ready-made garment sector.

Troops have been deployed in Ashulia, Savar, Mirpur, Rampura, Abdullahpur, Tongi, Gazipur, and Konabari, said Shariful Islam, public relations officer at the BGB headquarters.