Security tightened as strike cripples Bangladesh

Security tightened as strike cripples Bangladesh

DHAKA (Reuter): Heavily armed security men chased protesters and took up position across the Bangladesh capital Dhaka yesterday as a day long strike virtually paralyzed this city of nine million, witnesses said.

The strike, which began at 6 a.m., also shut down other main cities, including the port of Chittagong, and largely disrupted life in rural areas, they said.

Yesterday's stoppage was the latest in a long series of strikes and transport blockades organized by the opposition in its campaign to force Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia to step down and allow elections under a non-partisan caretaker administration. Khaleda has so far rejected the demands.

Opposition parties, including the main opposition group the Awami League, also urged Bangladeshis to observe half-day strikes across the country over the next five days.

Nearly 5,000 police and paramilitary troops were deployed in the Dhaka to avert possible violence and destruction of public property.

No transport

Witnesses said there was no transport on the streets except for a few rickshaws. Shops were closed and trains and river ferries were at a standstill. Domestic flights were mostly canceled.

Hundreds of opposition activists marched through Dhaka early on Saturday but were chased away, witnesses said.

In Chittagong, protesters damaged nearly 40 rickshaws and hurled home-made bombs at police. No injuries were reported, local officials said.

All port activities remained suspended, they said.

Saturday is a working day in overwhelmingly Moslem Bangladesh.

The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said the strikes and shutdowns would not topple the elected government, and asked the opposition to resolve the disputes through negotiation.

But BNP sources told reporters on Friday the government was planning to dissolve parliament and announce general elections as the last resort to overcome the long-running crisis.

Political analysts also hinted at such a move. "Under the solid surface the ice has actually started to melt," one analyst told Reuters.

The opposition walked out of parliament in March last year and resigned en masse last December. It accuses Khaleda's government of by-election fraud and widespread corruption and says no election under her will be free and fair.

Khaleda, elected in 1991 in what were billed as Bangladesh's first free polls, has rejected the charges. The next elections are not due before March.