Bangladeshi Garment Workers Strike Over Food Prices

Thousands of garment workers in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka went on strike today, closing factories in protest at spiraling food prices.

Demonstrators clashed with police after smashing cars and shops. Local agencies said the army had to be brought in to bring the situation under control, and had police opened fire to scatter the striking workers. Nearly two dozen people were injured.

The disruption crippled Bangladesh's garment industry, the country's biggest export earner, with dozens of factories shutting for the day.

The riots came after stone-throwing crowds clashed with police over the weekend. Factory workers say high food prices have meant many have little to eat, and are demanding wage increases.

The basic minimum monthly salary of a garment worker is less than $1 (51p) a day. A family of four usually spends half of this amount on food. However the price of rice, the staple of the Bangladeshi diet, has leapt by a third since a cyclone devastated food stocks last year.

Experts say 30 million of the country's 150 million people could go without daily meals - a crisis that threatens the military-backed regime in Dhaka.

Major opposition parties have also threatened street protests if the government fails to rein in rising prices. India agreed to ship 500,000 tonnes of "emergency rice stocks" to Bangladesh, but these could take a month to arrive.