DPA

DHAKA BANGLADESHI garment manufacturers on Sunday suspended operations indefinitely at more than 300 factories following labour unrest over salary demands, factory owners said.

“It is not possible to run the factories unless the government provides adequate security,” Shafilu Islam Mohiuddin, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said. He said all factories in the Ashulia industrial zone near the capital Dhaka would be closed. The association also threatened to shut all 4,500 factories across Bangladesh if unrest flares up in other parts of the country.

It called on the government to provide more security for the sector which contributes nearly 80 per cent of the total export earnings. Several thousand garment workers on Sunday put barricades on the Dhaka-Tangail highway to protest the owners’ decision.