DHAKA - Deadly clashes erupted on the streets of Bangladesh Monday on the first anniversary of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s controversial re-election as police besieged the main opposition leader in her office.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused her besieged opposition rival of trying to trigger anarchy as she countered that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief was responsible for a wave of violence that left at least four people dead in the volatile South Asian nation. “I am urging the BNP leader to stop these bomb and grenade attacks, these acts of sabotage, and killings, of arson and damage to property,” Hasina said in a televised address to the nation, exactly a year after she was re-elected in what was effectively a one-horse race.
Hasina warned against efforts to create “anarchy and instability” on a day of widespread violence that also saw riot police clash with BNP supporters when Zia tried to break a siege of her headquarters.
Police in the northern district of Rajshahi fired live rounds at hundreds of protesters after they attacked them with firearms, petrol bombs and rocks, said local police chief Alamgir Kabir. “One person was killed in the firing,” he told AFP.
Two BNP activists were shot dead during clashes with supporters of Hasina’s Awami League in another northern town, Natore, a local inspector said, adding at least 15 people were injured. In the nearby town of Kansat another protester died of his wounds after clashes with police and border guards, police said.
In Dhaka hundreds of pro-opposition lawyers joined the protests at the sprawling complex which houses the Supreme Court, where they waved black flags to signal the death of democracy. Police locked the gates into the main building, confining protesters to the grounds outside. Clashes also erupted at the national press club where the BNP’s deputy leader spoke at a rally.
When dozens of Zia’s supporters tried to break the siege, riot police fired pepper spray at them. Television footage showed BNP members wiping away tears after they tried to prise open the compound gates. Zia could be seen sitting in her car, with the engine revving. She later spoke to journalists who managed to sneak over the wall. “This government is illegal because it was not elected by the people. They sprayed pepper at us. It is not a normal situation. Is the country facing a war?” said the two-time former prime minister, calling the government “illegal” and urging people to join protests.
“They want to hang on to power people by bullets, tear gas and bombs.”“The protests will continue... No dictator can cling onto power like this,” she added despite her apparent failure to break the blockade of the compound in Dhaka’s upmarket Ghulshan district.
“Not only am I prisoner, but the whole of the country is being held captive. What kind of country are we living in?” said Zia.
The two women, who have ruled Bangladesh for most of the last three decades, are bitter rivals.
Zia issued the call for mass protests from inside her office, where she has been confined since Saturday night after police cordoned off the area.
Authorities stepped up their siege Monday by parking 11 trucks outside her office in a blockade designed to thwart any attempt by her to head protests in person.
The trucks, laden with sand and bricks, were wedged outside the gates of Zia’s office in the upmarket Gulshan district and at the mouth of the road leading to the building.
The BNP was one of 20 opposition parties which boycotted last year’s election, claiming that the outcome would be rigged.
Hasina, in power since 2009, had refused to step down before the election so the poll could be organised by a neutral caretaker administration.
The boycott meant most members in the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.
Voting was overshadowed by firebomb attacks on polling booths and clashes which left around 25 people dead.
Twelve months on, there were similar scenes in cities and towns around the country.
The election day violence last year was the culmination of the bloodiest year of political unrest in Bangladesh’s short history, with tensions also heightened by the death sentences passed on leading Islamists over their role in the 1971 war. More than 500 people were killed in political violence in 2013. (AFP)
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused her besieged opposition rival of trying to trigger anarchy as she countered that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief was responsible for a wave of violence that left at least four people dead in the volatile South Asian nation. “I am urging the BNP leader to stop these bomb and grenade attacks, these acts of sabotage, and killings, of arson and damage to property,” Hasina said in a televised address to the nation, exactly a year after she was re-elected in what was effectively a one-horse race.
Hasina warned against efforts to create “anarchy and instability” on a day of widespread violence that also saw riot police clash with BNP supporters when Zia tried to break a siege of her headquarters.
Police in the northern district of Rajshahi fired live rounds at hundreds of protesters after they attacked them with firearms, petrol bombs and rocks, said local police chief Alamgir Kabir. “One person was killed in the firing,” he told AFP.
Two BNP activists were shot dead during clashes with supporters of Hasina’s Awami League in another northern town, Natore, a local inspector said, adding at least 15 people were injured. In the nearby town of Kansat another protester died of his wounds after clashes with police and border guards, police said.
In Dhaka hundreds of pro-opposition lawyers joined the protests at the sprawling complex which houses the Supreme Court, where they waved black flags to signal the death of democracy. Police locked the gates into the main building, confining protesters to the grounds outside. Clashes also erupted at the national press club where the BNP’s deputy leader spoke at a rally.
When dozens of Zia’s supporters tried to break the siege, riot police fired pepper spray at them. Television footage showed BNP members wiping away tears after they tried to prise open the compound gates. Zia could be seen sitting in her car, with the engine revving. She later spoke to journalists who managed to sneak over the wall. “This government is illegal because it was not elected by the people. They sprayed pepper at us. It is not a normal situation. Is the country facing a war?” said the two-time former prime minister, calling the government “illegal” and urging people to join protests.
“They want to hang on to power people by bullets, tear gas and bombs.”“The protests will continue... No dictator can cling onto power like this,” she added despite her apparent failure to break the blockade of the compound in Dhaka’s upmarket Ghulshan district.
“Not only am I prisoner, but the whole of the country is being held captive. What kind of country are we living in?” said Zia.
The two women, who have ruled Bangladesh for most of the last three decades, are bitter rivals.
Zia issued the call for mass protests from inside her office, where she has been confined since Saturday night after police cordoned off the area.
Authorities stepped up their siege Monday by parking 11 trucks outside her office in a blockade designed to thwart any attempt by her to head protests in person.
The trucks, laden with sand and bricks, were wedged outside the gates of Zia’s office in the upmarket Gulshan district and at the mouth of the road leading to the building.
The BNP was one of 20 opposition parties which boycotted last year’s election, claiming that the outcome would be rigged.
Hasina, in power since 2009, had refused to step down before the election so the poll could be organised by a neutral caretaker administration.
The boycott meant most members in the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.
Voting was overshadowed by firebomb attacks on polling booths and clashes which left around 25 people dead.
Twelve months on, there were similar scenes in cities and towns around the country.
The election day violence last year was the culmination of the bloodiest year of political unrest in Bangladesh’s short history, with tensions also heightened by the death sentences passed on leading Islamists over their role in the 1971 war. More than 500 people were killed in political violence in 2013. (AFP)
