BUSINESS NEWS Reuters | Monday, 11 Nov 2013 | 4:54 AM ETDHAKA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi police fired water cannon and rubber bullets on Monday tobreak up a protest by garment workers demanding a higher minimum wage, forcing the closure of morethan 100 factories.Bangladesh's official wage board proposed a 77 percent rise in the minimum wage for garment workerslast week after a string of fatal factory accidents this year thrust poor pay and conditions into theinternational spotlight.The present minimum monthly wage of $38 is around half that of rival Asian exporters Vietnam andCambodia and just over a quarter of the rate in top exporter China, according to International LabourOrganisation data from August.But factory owners said they could not afford 77 percent.Police also fired tear gas to disperse the stone-throwing demonstrators in the Ashulia industrial belt, onthe outskirts of the capital Dhaka, that accounts for nearly 20 percent of total garment exports."Owners are indifferent to our demand. They are not even ready to pay what the wage board proposed,"a protester said, adding that there was no other option but to take to the streets.Garment factory staff went on strike over wages for six days in September, hitting production at almost20 percent of the country's 3,200 factories. The strikes followed similar protests over the summer.The new protest coincided with a four-day nationwide strike led by the m...