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.