At least two killed and dozens hurt during opposition rallies demanding caretaker system to oversee next year's polls.
Bangladeshi opposition parties have called a general strike after at
least two people were killed in clashes during nationwide road blockades
demanding a caretaker government to ensure elections due in 2014 are
fair.
Police and witnesses said at least two people were killed
and more than 200 injured in Sunday's violence in the capital,
Dhaka, and a number of other districts.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam
Alamgir, acting secretary-general of the opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), called for the daylong stoppage on Tuesday in
protest against what he said were government atrocities committed
against political activists during the protests.
The BNP, which
leads an 18-party alliance and is led by Khaleda Zia, former prime
minister, had enforced the eight-hour road blockades, which ended at 2pm
(08:00 GMT).
The opposition has threatened to boycott the 2014 polls unless a caretaker administration is installed beforehand.
The
ruling coalition, led by the Awami League, says the caretaker system,
made up of unelected persons, cannot be reinstated as it violates
democratic values.
It offered opposition parties the chance to
join an election-time "all-party" government to hold a credible poll
under a stronger election authority.
Violence in Dhaka
A
protester was killed during Sunday's clashes between opponents and
supporters of the government in Sirajganj district, 104km northwest of
Dhaka, Wahid Zaman, local police chief, said.
He did not provide details.
In
Dhaka, one protester was killed by a speeding bus as some demonstrators
tried to stop it, a police official said on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Police said
they fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up several hundred
protesters in Dhaka's southern Jatrabari district.
The demonstrators responded by throwing bricks.
Opposition
activists clashed with police in Dhaka and, elsewhere, set fire to
vehicles, put barricades on national highways and burnt tyres and threw
bricks and homemade bombs during the blockade.
Police fired tear
gas and rubber bullets to disperse the picketers, who clashed with
officers and anti-blockade activists from the Awami League in different
places.
As many as 100 opposition activists were detained.
In
elections since 1996, the sitting Bangladesh government has stepped
down before the vote to allow a neutral caretaker government to oversee
the polling.
The system was designed to prevent the party in power
from attempting to manipulate the vote. But the Awami League-led ruling
coalition scrapped that system after a court ruling in June 2011.
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