Police battled political activists throwing bombs and stones in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday, leaving dozens injured on the third day of a transport blockade called to scuttle elections.
The clashes erupted in the Fakirapool area of Dhaka when the activists, defying a blanket ban on marches and rallies, tried to storm police barricades and march to the presidential palace.
”It’s a fierce battle going on for couple of hours now, with activists exploding bombs and throwing stones at police firing rubber bullets and teargas,” Reuters cameraman Rafiqur Rahman said.
The fighting then spread to nearby Bangabandhu Avenue, where police tried to storm the headquarters of mainstream political party Awami League but were repelled by bomb-throwing party activists, Rahman and other witnesses said.
”Smoke from the home-made bombs and teargas shells covered the area, with people running for cover,” one witness said.
At least 60 people have been injured and dozens detained by police, the witness said.
About 130 people have been injured since Sunday in clashes between police and supporters of a multi-party alliance led by the Awami League that is boycotting the January 22 general elections. The alliance says the interim government that is organising the poll has failed to ensure a free and fair vote.
Police were bracing for more violence as the alliance, led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, vowed to block roads leading to the palace of President Iajuddin Ahmed, who heads the caretaker administration.
Abdul Jalil, general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League, said they would defy all bans and carry out their protest plans. He called on alliance leaders and workers to resist the elections and urged voters to boycott polling centres.
But Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by immediate past prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and Hasina’s rival, urged BNP workers to foil any attempt to disrupt the vote.
”Anyone has the right to boycott an election but no one has a right to resist the polls,” he said.
The blockade was largely enforced nationwide, with road, rail and ferry services badly disrupted. Deliveries from the ports remained suspended and business centres and schools were shut.
Hasina’s alliance, which ordered the blockade, has alleged that Iajuddin favours Khaleda and that his interim government has failed to create a congenial atmosphere for a free and fair election. It wants Iajuddin to resign but he has refused. — Reuters