DHAKA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - At least 50 people were injured when Bangladesh police fired teargas and used batons to disperse textile workers protesting against the sacking of fellow-workers on Saturday, police and witnesses said.

Five policemen were also among the injured, hit by missiles thrown by workers who also ransacked a garment factory and damaged several vehicles on a road in Gazipur, 40 km (25 miles) north of Dhaka.

Eighteen workers at a local garment factory were sacked on Friday for violating factory rules and colleagues walked out to demand their reinstatement.

The violence erupted as police tried disperse protesters who were blocking the highway. Street protests are banned in Bangladesh under a state of emergency imposed by the army-backed interim government since January last year.

Clothes are Bangladesh's biggest export, bringing in more than $9 billion a year. The country has some 4,000 garment factories, employing around 2.2 million workers, mostly women.

(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; editing by Robert Hart)

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