Thirty-six people, mostly garment workers, have been shown arrested in a case filed over attacking joint forces in Ashulia's Tongabari area on Monday.

Rashed Miah, sub-inspector of Ashulia Industrial Police-1, lodged the case with Ashulia Police Station yesterday, said Abu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of the police station.

The arrestees, who were detained on Monday, have been accused of attacking law enforcers, vandalising their vehicles, and ransacking factories.

However, no case has been filed yet over the death of Kawsar Hossain Khan, 27, a garment worker who was shot dead during Monday's clash between the joint forcers and RMG workers in Tongabari.

Meanwhile, workers of Birds Group demonstrated blocking the Nabinagar-Chandra highway in Savar's Baipail area for the second consecutive day yesterday demanding arrears.

The protest led to about 15km tailback on the highway, causing suffering to the road users.

A group of Jahangirnagar University students also blocked the Dhaka-Aricha highway in front of the university's main entrance around 1:15pm yesterday protesting the killing of the garment worker. They staged the protest for about 45 minutes, which led to gridlock in the area.

According to data from Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), 19 factories in Ashulia area were closed yesterday.

WHAT THE CASE STATEMENT SAYS

The statement of the police case said some workers of the Mondol Knitwear factory started demonstrating in front of the factory in Tongabari area on Monday following rumours that two workers went missing and two others were raped. Law enforcers were trying to resolve the worker-owner dispute.

Workers from nearby Natural Denims and Natural Indigo Limited walked out of their factories to join the protest.

At one stage, some unruly workers from Mango Tex Limited and a number of outsiders gathered in front of the Mondol Knitwear factory. The demonstrators threw brick chunks at the law enforcers, forcing them to use batons on the protesters, said the case statement.

The incident left some 10-12 law enforcers, including SP Sarwar Alam of Industrial Police-1 and Rab-4 Additional Police Superintendent Aktaruzzaman, and 30 workers injured. The protesters also vandalised eight army, two Rab and one industrial police vehicles, it added.

However, the case statement did not mention the death of Kawsar.

Amirul Haque Amin, president of National Garment Workers Federation, yesterday said the government should go tough against the troublemakers in the garment sector rather than being tough on the workers.

He also said that the factory owners should be more responsible in fulfilling the workers' 18-point demand.

Nazma Akter, president of Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation, said normalcy is returning to the Ashulia industrial belt gradually as no major labour unrest was reported yesterday.

HIGHWAY BLOCKED

Workers of Birds Group demonstrated blocking the Nabinagar-Chandra highway in Baipail area yesterday demanding arrears and reopening of the factory.

This caused congestion on the Dhaka-Aricha highway and it spread from Nabinagar to Zirani and from Nabinagar to BPATC areas, said Hossain Shahid Chowdhury, inspector (admin) of Dhaka North Traffic.

Abu Bakar, OC of Ashulia Police Station, said army personnel were in contact with the factory owners to resolve the issue.

Khairul Mamun Mintu, legal affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Garments and Sweater Workers Trade Union Centre, said Birds Group was supposed to pay the workers three-month arrears on Monday, but it failed.

BGMEA acting president Abdullah Hil Rakib yesterday said the Birds Group owners could not pay the arrears on Monday.

The factory owner, Anwar, was undergoing treatment at a hospital, and the BGMEA could not reach his family over the phone to discuss the payment of arrears, he told The Daily Star.

Birds Group shut its factory on August 28 citing financial constraints and a lack of work orders.

The BGMEA in a statement yesterday thanked the joint forces for playing a significant role in maintaining law and order in the sector.

The trade body held a meeting with the members of joint forces on Monday.

[Our Savar correspondent contributed to this report.]