Angry Bangladesh garment workers on Tuesday (November 12) set fire to parts of a factory outside Dhaka, in a protest over wages.

Production at minimum 200 garment factories in Ashulia, on the outskirts of the capital, was suspended for the day after workers clashed with police.

At least 50 workers were injured during the clashes in the area.

The present minimum monthly wage of $38 (£23.93) is around half that of rival Asian exporters Vietnam and Cambodia and just over a quarter of the rate in top exporter China, according to International Labour Organization data from August.

But factory owners said they could not afford wage rises.

Police also fired tear gas to disperse the stone-throwing demonstrators in the Ashulia industrial belt, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, that accounts for nearly 20 percent of total garment exports.

Garment factory staff went on strike over wages for six days in September, hitting production at almost 20 percent of the country's 3,200 factories. The strikes followed similar protests over the summer.

The new protest coincided with a four-day nation-wide strike led by the main opposition party demanding next year's election take place under a non-partisan government.

The industry, which supplies many Western brands, has already been under the spotlight after the accidents, including the collapse of a building housing factories in April that killed more than 1,130 people.

Rock-bottom wages and trade deals with Western countries have helped make Bangladesh the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China, with 60 percent of its clothes going to Europe and 23 percent to the United States.

Presented by Adam Justice