Bangladesh garment factories close as workers clash with police in pay protests

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Police in Bangladesh fired tear gas and used stun grenades Wednesday to disperse garment workers protesting for higher wages, police and witnesses said.

Hundreds of factories remained shut after days of protests disrupted the country’s garment industry, which earns about $40 billion a year from exports. Bangladesh has some 2,500 garment factories.

Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 takas ($245), up from 12,500 takas. They say rising living costs and inflation have eroded their purchasing power.

The industry employs about 4 million workers, mostly women from rural Bangladesh.

After days of demonstrations in the capital, Dhaka, violence was reported in several industrial areas on its outskirts.

In Fatullah, in Narayanganj district outside Dhaka, dozens of people were injured in clashes between protesters and police, according to media reports. Police fired tear gas and used stun grenades.

Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest Bengali-language daily, reported that police arrested several protesters in Fatullah.

About 100 factories remain shut in Ashulia, in Savar near Dhaka, said Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial Police.

Workers also blocked a major highway in Gazipur district, another major industrial hub.

More than 10,000 police officers had been deployed in Dhaka’s Mirpur area, an epicenter of recent protests, to maintain order, said Mahidul Islam, a joint police commissioner.

The government has responded to the wage demands by forming a new wage board.

The board’s chairman, Syed Azad Subhani, said workers would receive their first salaries under the new pay scale in January.