Dhaka, Oct 31 (IANS) In another round of recurring industrial violence in Bangladesh, at least four people were killed Saturday as garment factory workers clashed with police at Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Two workers and two policemen were killed and over 200 injured at the industrial township called Ershadnagar, Star Online, the website of The Daily Star said.

As reports of violence poured in, unnamed sources said the death toll might rise.

The clashes erupted at 8 a.m. when around 3,000 workers of Nippon Garment launched agitation demanding due salaries.

Privately owned readymade garments and knitwear industries, Bangladesh’s highest foreign exchange earners, are plagued by disputes over wage payment and working conditions.

During clashes, police fired over 200 rounds of bullets to disperse the demonstrators who retaliated with pelting brick chips.

Witnesses said the angry workers ransacked over 30 vehicles and torched another after putting barricades on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at Tongi. The highway connects Dhaka with the country’s northern region.

Ghazipur Superintendent of Police and officer-in-charge of Tongi police station Tapan Chandra Saha told the newspaper that they were yet to confirm the number of the dead and injured as clashes were on.

Witnesses said the clashes between 3,000 workers and several hundred police turned the entire area into “a battleground as the sounds of firing were shaking the area”, the website said.