Paramilitary forces were deployed to guard garment factories outside the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday, after workers vandalised them and clashed with police as they protested to demand higher wages.

Forces drawn from the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh and the police’s Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in Gazipur industrial district, 40 kilometres north of Dhaka, as workers demonstrated for a sixth day, police officer Mosharraf Hossain said.

The owners of at least 20 garment factories announced unscheduled holidays, fearing violence after the workers took to the streets and blockaded a major highway, Hossain said.

The protesters also clashed with police in the Kaliakoir area, he added.

The government on Wednesday decided to enhance security in the industrial areas after workers vandalised a number of factories and cars on the street during demonstrations that have halted production in at least 100 garment factories for five days.

It also promised an announcement on a new wage structure for garment workers by November. A committee has been reviewing the workers’ demands for a starting salary of at least $100 a month.

The garment workers started the strike on Saturday, saying that the cost of living has risen sharply since a minimum salary of $38 a month was fixed in 2010.

The government formed the committee to review conditions for workers in the garment industry after more than 1,100 people were killed when a factory collapsed near Dhaka in April.

Factory owners who had earlier agreed to a 20-per-cent pay rise are now in discussions with the panel to fix a new salary structure.

Bangladesh, the second-largest garment exporter after China, has been under pressure to improve safety standards at nearly 4,000 garment factories that employ more than 3.5 million workers, mostly women, after a series of factory disasters.

The garment sector accounts for about 79 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports, and is worth around $24 billion annually.

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