Nearly 50 hurt in Bangladesh strike violence

Nearly 50 hurt in Bangladesh strike violence

DHAKA (Reuter): Nearly 50 people were injured in clashes
between police and opposition activists as Bangladesh was
virtually closed down yesterday on the first day of a 72-hour
strike.

Witnesses said a group of militant strikers set ablaze the
Election Commission office in Chittagong port city, destroying
all records and furniture.

"They doused everything inside the office with petrol and just
torched it," one Chittagong official said.

Police swung into action with tear gas and batons, and clashed
with protesters armed with home-made bombs, sticks and rocks, he
said.

Nearly 50 people were injured, and police arrested at least 10
in the port city. "The city is very tense now," one local
journalist told Reuters.

In Dhaka, protesters burned several small vehicles that moved
in defiance of the strike, called by opposition parties as part
of a campaign for elections under a neutral caretaker
administration.

Smoke from dozens of bombs hurled at police filled the air as
activists marched in this city of nine million, witnesses said.
Police said they had no report of injuries in the capital.

The streets of Dhaka, normally teeming with people, cars and
bicycle rickshaws, were virtually empty. Shops and most offices
were closed.

Trains and buses did not move while airport officials said
most domestic flights would be canceled and international flights
delayed. Ferries, which carry many Bangladeshis, also remained
tied up, transport officials said.

Government departments kept their doors open with staff who
slept in their offices overnight or walked to work, witnesses
said. Saturday is a working day in mainly Moslem Bangladesh.

Riot police and paramilitary troops guarded key city areas to
deal with the violence that often accompanies strikes. Most
people prefer to stay at home rather than court danger.

Police said 10 people were arrested in Dhaka on Friday night
after clashes between police and opposition activists.

Opposition parties said more than 20 people were injured and
at least 40 arrested after the clashes.

Witnesses said hundreds of opposition activists took to the
streets, chanting: "We won't accept anything undemocratic. No
farce in the name of elections."

Activists removed railway track in at least one place and put
up barricades on highways near Chittagong, local officials said.

The strike is part of a campaign by major opposition groups,
led by the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina, to force Prime Minister
Begum Khaleda Zia to resign ahead of general elections scheduled
for Jan. 18.

They accused Khaleda's government of rigging a 1994
parliamentary by-election and of sweeping corruption, and say no
election with her in office would be fair.

The opposition wants a neutral government to supervise the
polls to ensure honest voting.

The crisis intensified after President Abdur Rahman Biswas
dissolved parliament but asked Khaleda to stay until the next
election.

Yesterday's strike crippled Chittagong, the industrial city of
Khulna in the south, Rajshahi and Dinajpur in the north and
Sylhet in northeast. The Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges
were closed.

Khaleda, reported to be ill and resting at home, has shown no
sign of bowing to the pressure.