The clash erupted when workers of
Partex Particle Board factory in Madanpur put up a road blockade to demand hike
in pay on Saturday.
Traffic on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway was disrupted
for almost one hour.
The Partex factory workers have been agitating for
several days, said Bandar Police OC Akhter Morshed.
Police removed their
blockade to ease traffic on the highway, he said.
Hundreds of the
factory’s workers did not join work and began demonstrating at 8am, witnesses
say.
They moved to the highway and set logs on fire to stop
traffic.
Additional policemen were deployed at 8:30 am and they
baton-charged workers when they refused to move away from the road.
The
workers fought back by pelting stones.
20 were injured in the pitched
battle that lasted for half an hour.
More policemen arrived at 9am to
clear the highway.
Partex authorities have not immediately responded to
the request for a comment.