Bangladesh police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at garment workers who stitch clothes for Western retailers during clashes.
About 40,000 workers downed tools and took to the streets in the Ashulia export zone on the outskirts of Dhaka for a second day on Tuesday, forcing around 200 factories to suspend production, police and factory owners said.
The workers are demanding a wage hike to $US100 ($A107.11) per month instead of the rise to $US67 approved last week by the Minimum Wage Board after rounds of meetings with industry, unions and government representatives.
"The workers came out of their factories and blocked a key highway and went unruly in at least three separate spots," Ashulia industrial police inspector Abdus Sattar told AFP.
"They threw stones at police. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters," he said.
Police would not comment on the casualties but local media reported scores of people injured in the clashes.
At least 200 factories at Ashulia were forced to suspend production for the day, said S.M Manna, a vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents 4500 factories.
The owners have decided to shut down all units based in Ashulia on Wednesday citing security reasons as the workers continued protests.
"We have closed down all 257 factories in Ashulia for tomorrow (Wednesday). There is no point of keeping them operational as the workers do not work and vandalise properties," Shahidullah Azim, another vice president of the BGMEA told AFP.
The board recommended raising the minimum monthly wage from $US38 to $US67, still the lowest in the world, according to union leaders, and well short of demands.
The BGMEA has rejected the $US67 figure as too high, and urged the government against implementing it.
A union leader, Muhammad Ibrahim, said workers were demanding $US100 as the minimum wage, but were also protesting in anger over the owners' rejection of the board's proposed rise.
Bangladesh is the world's second largest exporter of garments, with the industry employing some four million workers, mainly women, who produce clothes for leading retailers such as Wal-Mart and H&M.
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