Several thousand workers of A-one (BD) Ltd, garments section of Goldtex Ltd and Softex Ltd staged demonstrations after they came to know about indefinite closure of their factories.

The three factories were closed sine die following a meeting between factory owners and DEPZ General Manager AZM Azizur Rahman on Saturday night.

The workers of A-one (BD) Ltd, which was closed following the workers' unrest as it was severely damaged, became violent around 8:30am after seeing the indefinite closure notice at the main gate of the factory. They had gone to the factory yesterday to know when their demands would be met and when it would reopen.

The workers marched towards Actors Sporting Ltd and shouted slogans in support of their demands as Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), police and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) men asked them to leave the area. As soon as they reached Actors Sporting Ltd, a few thousand of workers of Goldtex Ltd joined them.

The demonstrators started hurling brickbats at the windowpanes of Actors Sporting Ltd. Police charged truncheons to disperse the demonstrators triggering chases and counter chases.

The demonstrators went to the DEPZ office where more than one thousand workers of Softex Ltd joined them around 9:00am.

Police clubbed the agitators again to disperse them triggering chases and counter chases there too. The agitating workers resorted to throwing brickbats at the police. Police lobbed at least 12 teargas canisters into the demonstrators.

The demonstrators went on a rampage on Dhaka-Baipail-Kaliakoir highway around 9:30am and vandalised at least 100 vehicles during skirmishes with the law enforcement agencies, disrupting vehicular movement for two hours. Police and Rab charged truncheons again and fired several teargas shells.

However, Paddock's Jeans Ltd, closed on June 13, resumed operation yesterday.

Authorities of Anzir Apparels Ltd at Baipail closed their factory fearing violence as angry demonstrators of DEPZ on their return vandalised windowpanes of the factory, factory authorities said.

Around five thousand workers of Haesong Corporation Ltd in Baroipara refrained from work yesterday as their demands were not met. The workers stopped operations as factory authorities did not increase the 'piece rate' [payment per piece of product they work on]. Factory authorities give them low piece rate and it varies from worker to worker, alleged the workers of the factory.

Meanwhile, workers of five garment factories demonstrated in support of their 17-point demand in Gazipur yesterday. Clashes between pro-owner workers and general workers left nine people injured in Stylo Fashions in Gazipur yesterday. Two other garment factories, Jahan Tex and Rebit Tex, in Gazipur were also closed following workers' demonstrations.

"Law enforcers have taken necessary steps to maintain law and order inside the DEPZ," said Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority's (Bepza) Executive Chairman Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf adding, "Eighty factories out of the 84 are now operational while Youngone is likely to resume operation from today."

Hoping resumption of work at the closed factories soon, Yussuf said, "Factory owners are willing to implement Bepza rules while members of Workers Representative Welfare Committee of 66 factories in a meeting on Saturday night assured me of keeping peace inside DEPZ.