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Tuesday, January 09, 2007  
             

 

Police fire rubber bullets at Bangladesh protesters

01-08-2007, 09h47
DHAKA (AFP)

photo
Bangladeshi police beat an activist of the 14-party opposition alliance during a transport blockade in Dhaka. Riot police in Bangladesh have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who pelted them with stones and small bombs as a nationwide opposition blockade erupted into violence for a second day.
(AFP)

Riot police in Bangladesh have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters who pelted them with stones and small bombs as a nationwide opposition blockade erupted into violence for a second day.

The clashes broke out during an opposition protest in Dhaka's old quarter but there were confrontations elsewhere in the capital too, with riot police baton-charging demonstrators.

The blockade is paralysing the impoverished country in an attempt to force the government to delay the January 22 general election which the opposition says is stacked in favour of the outgoing ruling party.

"The protesters hurled many small bombs at our officers, and we shot back with rubber bullets and tear gas," said Abdul Quddus, assistant commissioner of Dhaka police.

"There were thousands of protesters, they were also pelting us with stones and rocks."

At least 12 people were injured in the clash and were admitted to hospital, said Emdad Hossain of Dhaka Medical College.

Earlier, police fired tear gas and baton-charged demonstrators in central Dhaka.

Police said officers charged the activists trying to demolish barbed-wire barricades near the offices of the main opposition Awami League.

"Police swung into action after the protesters became unruly," said Dhaka police additional deputy commissioner Mahbubur Rahman.

"There are thousands of protesters on the streets for the second day," he said.

In a third clash at Kerainiganj on Dhaka's southern outskirts, at least 20 people needed hospital treatment, including six police officers after police baton-charged activists and also fired tear gas, said local police chief Samiul Alam.

A bus was also torched at Savar in western Dhaka, police added.

The Awami League and its 13 leftist allies are enforcing the second day of their 72-hour blockade.

Some 12,500 police officers and thousands more soldiers were patrolling the streets of the capital.

The Awami League and its allies have announced a boycott of the January 22 general elections, which they say will be stacked in favour of the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) unless there are changes to the voter list and other sweeping reforms.

Elsewhere in the city, thousands of opposition activists staged rallies and demonstrations, chanting "farcical polls are unacceptable".

Activists also put up blockades on main highways, paralysing the country's transport network for the second day running, police added.

There was a similar situation in other key cities, with buses and cars off the roads and schools and businesses closed, officials said.

In Chittagong, international trade at the country's main port was again at a halt, said port director Kamrul Islam.

Thousands of opposition supporters also took to the streets of Chittagong amid tight security.

Some 5,000 police, paramiliatries and soldiers were patrolling the city to prevent unrest, said assistant police commissioner Farid Uddin.

The opposition has repeatedly staged crippling protests and blockades in the past year to highlight its demands.

At least 35 people have been killed in unrest in the nation of 144 million people since the BNP-led government handed power to an interim administration at the end of October, when its five-year mandate expired.


AFP

 

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