‘Fascist forces have infiltrated garment workers’ protests and are fuelling unrest’: Industrial police chief

Forces associated with the former authoritarian government have infiltrated Bangladesh's ongoing garment workers' protests and are actively instigating unrest, one of the country’s top industrial Polices has alleged.

In an interview with Daily Waadaa, newly appointed Additional Inspector General of Police (Industrial Police) Gazi Jasim Uddin said intelligence agencies had identified several individuals allegedly involved in fuelling the protests, including factory owners and labour leaders.

"Fascist forces are certainly involved. We have identified many of them through intelligence reports and social media monitoring. Several have already been arrested," he said.

"The information indicates that fascist forces have infiltrated the movement and are actively instigating the unrest."

Jasim said the situation should have stabilised following the formation of a wage board, but groups allegedly seeking to exploit the protests continued to operate.

He said several garment factory owners and labour leaders were under intelligence surveillance, although police were deliberately avoiding arrests during the ongoing movement.

"We are not arresting or detaining them during the protests because it could create an international perception that operations are being conducted against labour leaders," he said.

"Once the situation calms down, legal action will be taken."

‘Unrest unlikely to end immediately’

Jasim said the unrest was unlikely to end immediately, citing factory closures and confrontations between protesting workers and law enforcement agencies.

Workers arriving at closed factories were taking to the streets and attempting to force employees at operational factories to join the protests, he said.

"Some owners have kept their factories closed, while others have continued operations. Workers from closed factories then approach those that remain open and force other workers to leave," he said.

He said police had faced confrontations in Narayanganj, Gazipur, Savar and Ashulia, with officers using force to disperse protesters.

"It has not been possible to remove them through ordinary means," he said.

Industrial Police personnel were deployed alongside Border Guard Bangladesh, district police and other law enforcement agencies.

Howlader said no police personnel had been injured on the day of the interview, although some had sustained injuries the previous day.

Workers carrying sticks, police monitoring social media

The Industrial Police chief said one main feature of the current protests was the presence of workers carrying sticks and wooden poles.

"I cannot recall whether workers have ever come out onto the streets in this manner during previous movements," he said.

He alleged that some people associated with the former government had left their home areas and subsequently taken jobs in garment factories.

Identifying such individuals among thousands of workers was difficult, he said, but social media surveillance had helped investigators track some of them.

Jasim claimed workers were storing sticks and poles in residential areas near factories before bringing them to demonstrations.

Asked whether police would conduct raids to recover the objects, he said labour protests required a different approach from political demonstrations.

"This is not a political movement. Labour protests cannot be handled in the same way as political demonstrations," he said.

"When politics becomes involved in a labour movement, the situation must be handled carefully."

Factory closures complicating situation

Jasim also questioned the decisions of some factory management teams to suspend operations at the first sign of protests.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has repeatedly called for garment factories to remain operational, but some owners have continued keeping their factories closed.

The Industrial Police chief said owners were often absent from factories, leaving operational decisions to management teams reluctant to take risks.

"We have told them that if protesters gather at factory gates and try to force their way in, they should not immediately shut down operations. They should seek assistance from the Industrial Police," he said.

He claimed police could reach factories within five to seven minutes of receiving a request for assistance.

However, he acknowledged that the force lacked sufficient personnel to maintain a permanent presence outside every factory.

"It is impossible to deploy police personnel outside every factory. We simply do not have enough officers," he said.

He added that closures at even a small proportion of factories could trigger disruption elsewhere as workers moved between industrial establishments.

"Even if 3% of garment factories remain closed, the others are open and operating normally," he said.

--