- DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshis angry over frequent electricity outages lobbed stones at a power station and clashed with riot police Wednesday in a town outside the capital Dhaka, leaving at least 50 people injured, police said.
Police responded with batons and tear gas to beat back about 5,000 protesters, many of them armed with iron rods and stones, in Narayanganj town outside Dhaka, local police officer Akhtar Hossain said. Protesters also blocked traffic and smashed vehicles, and threw stones at the power station, but caused no major damage to the facility. Several policemen were among the injured, Hossain said. Similar violence was reported in more than 10 other towns across this power-starved South Asian nation on Tuesday, but there was no reports of any injuries. Bangladesh has a daily shortfall of about 2,000 megawatts of electricity because of aging power plants, resulting in frequent outages.