Headquarters of Bangladesh's main opposition party surrounded by thousands of police to try and prevent demonstration calling for next month's elections to be
cancelled
Thousands of police on Sunday cordoned off the headquarters of the Bangladesh's main opposition party and used water cannons to disperse anti-government
activists in a bid to prevent a mass rally calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to cancel next month's elections.
Hasina's rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, was expected to address the rally later on Sunday in defiance of a government ban on large political gatherings.
But Zia's home in Dhaka's upscale Gulshan area, where most foreign embassies are located, was surrounded by security officials. Sand-laden trucks were parked on
the streets apparently to obstruct any attempt by Zia to leave her home.
Police denied that the measures were taken to prevent her from joining the rally.
As the impoverished South Asian nation's political crisis deepened, local media reported more than 650 people have been detained since Friday as part of a
nationwide crackdown ahead of Jan. 5 elections, which the opposition is boycotting. Opposition parties said those detained are their activists, but police said they
were taken in on specific charges to prevent acts of sabotage.
The opposition insists Hasina should resign and hand over power to an independent caretaker to oversee the polls. Hasina has rejected the demand and vowed to
go ahead with the elections.
Military troops have also been deployed across the country to help the civil administration conduct the election. Hundred and fifty-four people from Hasina's Awami
League party and its allies have already been elected uncontested in 300 constituencies.
Sunday's rally was seen as the last major attempt by the opposition to derail the government's plan to hold the election, but the protest was unlikely to succeed
because of the government's hard-line approach.
Apart from surrounding Zia's home and her party's headquarters in downtown Dhaka where the rally was supposed to be held, police sprayed water cannons at
dozens of lawyers from Zia's party and its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami at the Supreme Court premises. Security officials refused to allow the lawyers to leave the
premises to join the rally.
More than 150 people have died in the political violence since October. The conflict pits an opposition alliance led by Zia's opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party
against Hasina, who blames her arch rival Zia of protecting people being tried or convicted of war crimes involving the nation's 1971 independence war against
Pakistan.
Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is the main partner of Zia's party, wants the government to halt the war crimes trials of its leaders. Zia says the trials initiated by Hasina are
politically-motivated to weaken the opposition, an allegation the government has denied. Most of the suspects or convicts are top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, which
had campaigned against the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. It is also blamed for forming citizens' brigades as collaborators of the Pakistani military during the war.
Jamaat-e-Islami is banned from taking part in the election.
Edited by Steve Wilson
Source: AP
9:20AM GMT 29 Dec 2013
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/bangladesh/10541073/Police-in-Bangladesh-move-to-shut-down-opposition-rally.html
