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August 30 2004

 
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BD crippled by 3rd anti-govt strike

   
DHAKA: Shops and schools were closed across Bangladesh on Saturday after the main opposition party called a general strike to demand the government resign over a deadly grenade attack on a political rally. Unrest has swept through Bangladesh since last week’s attack, and authorities have stepped up security to prevent any violence during Saturday’s strike.

About 7,000 police and paramilitary troops patrolled the capital, Dhaka, while extra security was deployed in more than 60 other cities and towns, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity. A homemade bomb exploded in downtown Dhaka early Saturday, injuring a boy, witnesses said. No one took responsibility for the bombing.

No other violence was immediately reported during the dawn-to-dusk strike _ the third in a week. The streets in Dhaka were empty of cars, trucks and buses.

Many commuters walked or used rickshaws, repeating scenes from two other strikes organized since Aug. 21 when more than a dozen grenades were lobbed into a crowd outside the main opposition Awami League party’s headquarters in central Dhaka.

The Awami League blames the government for the attack, which killed 20 people and wounded more than 300 others. Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina escaped the attack unharmed, but claims police allowed the assailants to flee _ a charge the government denies. Since the attack, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets throughout the country, burning a train and destroying cars and buses. Riot police beat demonstrators, injuring about 500 people, and have arrested about 400 others.

On Friday, thousands of opposition activists took to the streets in Dhaka calling for the government to step down.

Elsewhere in the city, unidentified attackers set several buses on fire, witnesses said. Strikes are a common opposition tactic in Bangladesh to pressure the government to accept a demand. Bangladesh has a history of political unrest.



 
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