Opposition tries to shut down Bangladesh's transport

Opposition tries to shut down Bangladesh's transport

DHAKA (Reuter): More than 40 people were injured yesterday when opposition parties tried to shut down inter-city transport in their latest attempt to force an early election in Bangladesh, witnesses said.

Opposition activists attacked a train in the northern region of Lalmanir Hat and halted several others across the country, transport officials said. Buses and lorries did not operate at all while ferry services were disrupted, they added.

A dozen activists were hurt in Lalmanir Hat and Mymensingh, also in the north. More than 30 were injured as police used truncheons to disperse activists demonstrating in the capital, Dhaka, witnesses said.

Police outnumbered protesters in and around the capital, witnesses said.

"It's only a partial blockade under a tight security watch. Police and troops largely outnumbered activists on the streets," one said.

"This is the dullest blockade I have ever seen in many years," a police officer at Tongi railway station, 12 kilometers from Dhaka, said.

The blockade, called by three main opposition parties including the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, aimed to put pressure on Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia to step down and allow early elections under a neutral caretaker government.

Similar blockades, strikes and other unrest in the past have failed to force Khaleda, elected in 1991, into submission.

Reports from outside Dhaka yesterday, however, said the blockade was effective in some places, including the port city of Chittagong.

"The blockade is total in this city. No transport moved in or out since morning," a Chittagong official said.

Reporters in the southern industrial city of Khulna said thousands of families were stranded at train and ferry terminals because of the blockade.

Railway sources said blockade enforcers pulled up tracks at several places outside Dhaka and pelted stones at trains trying to move.

Almost all opposition members resigned from parliament on Dec. 28 in support of their demands. Khaleda responded by announcing the next day that she was prepared to step down 30 days ahead of elections scheduled in 1996.

Opposition turned down her offer, saying it was too little too late.