DHAKA, 19 April 2006 — Some 50 people were injured in clashes between police and opposition activists in Dhaka yesterday. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse thousands of activists heading to a rally, which Awami League leader Hasina Wajed addressed in the afternoon.
The activists hurled stones at police and set fire to several vehicles, witnesses said. Fears of a new political crisis heightened as Awami League, the main opposition party, refused to sit down to talks with a government Islamist coalition partner and vowed to march on the prime minister’s office.
Police ordered a 24-hour ban on rallies around Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s office from midnight to thwart today’s planned march. But opposition leaders said they would defy the ban, raising the fear of violence and a tough police response.
“They are trying to foil our plans by issuing threats and imposing bans. But we are not cowards,” said former minister Abdur Razzak, a senior leader of Hasina’s Awami League.
Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Hasina’s Awami League disagree on the inclusion of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in hoped-for talks on electoral reforms.
Khaleda, speaking at a rally in northern Natore district yesterday, said the opposition plans were “aimed to create chaos and lawlessness in the country.”
Hasina told an Awami League meeting on Monday that the opposition would reject a meeting with the BNP if it included a member of the Jamaat, BNP’s coalition partner.
