Union leaders among 30 held over walkout by thousands of workers of factories that supply clothes to top Western brands.

Police in Bangladesh say garment manufacturers have dismissed at least 1,500 workers after protests over pay led to a week-long shutdown at dozens of factories, which supply clothes to top Western brands.

Police described the protests as illegal and said that they had arrested 30 workers, including seven union leaders, as well as a television reporter covering the unrest, the AFP news agency reported on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of workers walked out of factories in the manufacturing centre of Ashulia, a suburb of the capital Dhaka, that make clothing for brands such as GAP, Zara and H&M earlier this month, prompting concerns over supply during the holiday season.

“All the factories have resumed their operations. Some 90 percent of the workers have joined work,” said Nur Nabi, assistant superintendent of police.

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“Around 1,500 workers have been sacked [by the owners]. The owners have filed five cases against the unruly workers.”

However, the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation put the number of dismissed workers at 3,500, adding that dozens of protest organisers had been forced into hiding.

Babul Akhter, head of the federation, accused authorities of using a controversial military-era law to shut down the protests.

“They used [the] Special Powers Act to detain union leaders and workers,” he told AFP. “Up to 3,500 workers have been sacked and 50 leaders have gone into hiding.”

Blow to industry

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association has rejected the workers’ demand for their pay to be trebled from the current minimum monthly wage of 5,300 taka ($67).

The police chief of Ashulia said only those involved in violent protest had been arrested.

The protests were the latest blow to the country’s $30bn garment industry, which provides employment to millions of people in this Asian nation of nearly 160 million.

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Garment manufacturing makes up 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports and a prolonged interruption would have a major impact on the economy.

Bangladesh’s 4,500 garment factories have a woeful history of poor pay and conditions for their four million workers, and protests occur frequently.

They gained intensity after the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in which 1,130 workers were crushed to death.

The tragedy prompted international outrage, forcing US and European clothing brands to improve deplorable safety conditions at their supplier factories.