The News International Pakistan  
Tuesday August 24, 2004-- Rajab 07, 1425 A.H.
ISSN 1563-9479
 

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BD police clash with demonstrators ahead of general strike

DHAKA: Riot police clashed with demonstrators in the Bangladeshi capital on Monday as opposition party activists marched in protest at a weekend grenade attack which killed 19 people, witnesses said.

The police, following about 1,000 anti-government protestors, used batons to control the crowd although there were no arrests, an AFP correspondent said.

The demonstrators later scuffled with activists from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main partner in the ruling coalition government.

BNP supporters also beat up two journalists covering the demonstration leaving them in need of hospital treatment, the AFP correspondent added.

The opposition Awami League has called a two-day national strike for Tuesday and Wednesday in protest at the grenade attack on Saturday which they say was an assassination attempt against party leader and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed.

Riot police patrolled tense Bangladeshi cities and colleges were closed on Monday ahead of a two-day general strike called to protest a grenade attack on a political rally that killed 19 people, witnesses said.

In the capital Dhaka, police and paramilitary forces dressed in riot gear were on standby, Dhaka metropolitan additional police commissioner Mizanur Rahman told AFP.

In the southeastern port city of Chittagong, meanwhile, more than 2,000 paramilitaries and police from armed units were deployed at key facilities such as oil refineries, a spokesman said.

The city was working normally following a wild-cat strike on Sunday but traffic was significantly lighter as citizens fearing possible violence opted to stay at home, witnesses said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Sheikh Hasina Sunday to express his support, BSS said.

In a statement issued in Washington late Sunday he also condemned the attack and called for calm.

"The perpetrators of this heinous act clearly intend to undermine democracy in Bangladesh," Powell said. "They must not succeed. The US urges all parties to act with restraint," he added.


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