DHAKA, 9 January 2007 — At least 50 people were injured and 30 detained in renewed clashes between police and activists yesterday as a blockade aimed at derailing parliamentary elections paralyzed much of the Bangladesh for a second day.
Clashes erupted at a dozen spots, including around the headquarters of the Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed, in the capital Dhaka.
Protesters set ablaze and damaged several vehicles and fought battles with police across the city and its outskirts, witnesses said.
Police used batons and tear gas to disperse stone-throwing supporters of Hasina’s multiparty alliance, which is boycotting the Jan. 22 vote.
About 5,000 protesters tried to overrun barbed-wire barricades manned by police, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
In the congested, old part of the city, police used rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing protesters, who also detonated several homemade bombs, Channel-I television reported.
In Keraniganj, troops were called in to patrol the streets after activists clashed with police and paramilitary forces, injuring dozens, including two policemen, the United News of Bangladesh news agency said. About 70 people including police were injured on Sunday, the first day of the three-day blockade.
The alliance called for the blockades in protest at what it sees as the interim government’s inability to hold a free and fair vote. It says caretaker President Iajuddin Ahmed favors Hasina’s rival, Khaleda Zia, in the polls.
The alliance, which has threatened to block access to the presidential palace yesterday, wants Iajuddin to resign but he has refused. Yesterday, buses and lorries did not operate, deliveries from the ports were suspended and most businesses and educational institutions were closed. Railway and ferry services were also disrupted. Some taxis and rickshaws were operating within the capital Dhaka but alliance activists manned strategic points to prevent vehicles entering and leaving the city, they added.
Meanwhile, last-ditch efforts by Western diplomats to help resolve the political imbroglio failed. US Ambassador Patricia Butenis and UK High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury are believed to have initiated the move and had talks with Hasina and Khaleda on Saturday and Sunday.
Reliable sources said in Dhaka the Butenis-Choudhury mission proved futile as BNP chairperson Khaleda was unwilling to agree to the postponement of polls. After the meeting, former Foreign Minister Morshed Khan told reporters that there was no point in discussing election postponement since 17 candidates had already been elected unopposed.
Earlier, BNP leader Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told reporters that the next elected government would explore the possibility of mid-term election if such a demand was raised by the parties boycotting the January poll.
At least 45 people have been killed and hundreds injured in clashes between political rivals since Khaleda ended her five-year tenure as prime minister in late October.
