Bangladesh hit by opposition strike to oust government
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-25 08:44

Several people were injured in clashes and business brought to a standstill in Bangladesh during a nationwide general strike called by the opposition in a fresh campaign to oust the Islamist-allied government.

Cars and buses were off the roads and schools and shops and private offices in major cities were closed, police said. Transport to the main Chittagong seaport was cut off as no inter-regional buses or trucks moved.

At least 10 strike supporters and seven policemen were injured in clashes between police and opposition supporters in Dhaka, police said.

"A constable is fighting for his life in hospital after opposition activists hurled a brick in his face," deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Mahbub Alam told AFP.

The rest suffered minor injuries as police used batons to bring order after protestors tried to lift barricades on a key street, he said. Police also detained six opposition activists.

The general strike was part of a protest campaign announced Tuesday by a 14-party alliance led by the main opposition Awami League, aimed at forcing out the four-party government.

Bangladesh opposition Awami League activists shout before a police barricade in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005.[AP]

The opposition accuses the government, led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, of fostering the rise of hardline Islamists. Bangladesh has been shaken recently by a spate of blasts and killings blamed on Islamic extremists who are seeking to impose strict religious law on the Muslim-majority nation.

The government, which has a hefty majority in parliament and whose mandate runs out in late 2006, says it is doing everything in its power to crack down on Islamic radicals.

The strike followed a rally Tuesday in Dhaka that drew at least 100,000 demonstrators urging the government to "quit now".

"We've deployed over 9,000 troops in the city's main centres and in the industrial areas to keep things peaceful," Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner Mizanur Rahman told AFP.

Analysts and businesses warned that continued strikes would deal a blow to the economy, already shaken by a big increase in global oil and commodity prices, as the government battles a rising Islamic insurgency in the country.

Bangladesh, where more than 90 percent of the 140 million population are Muslim, was rocked by a series of nationwide blasts in August and October as well as deadly bomb campaigns targeting judges and courts.

"The strike came at a time when the countrymen are worried at the alarming rise of terrorist groups in the country," said the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mir Nasiruddin.

He said the country cannot afford these costly strikes given that inflation is hovering around seven percent.

Bangladesh police drag an opposition activist away during a general strike in Dhaka November 24, 2005.[Reuters]

"Security has emerged as the biggest concern for the economy. Both the government and opposition should sit together in this time of crisis instead of fighting on the streets," stock analyst Yawar Sayeed said.

In the southeastern city of Chittagong several ships anchored at the port but there were no container movements, police said.

But in the southern district of Khulna, home to some of the country's biggest state-owned jute and paper mills, there was little disruption.

"The mills are open and train and ferry services have been uninterrupted. Only the shops and markets did not open and the inter-district bus service has been affected," said Khulna metropolitan police commissioner Khan Sayeed Hassan.

The strike is the 17th this year called by opposition parties.

Last year the Awami League and its allies called more than 20 shutdowns, despite pleas from aid donors and business groups who say the strikes cost the impoverished nation's economy tens of millions of dollars annually.