Bangladesh's army chief was summoned by caretaker President Iajuddin Ahmed to discuss restoring order after renewed clashes between police and political activists two weeks before parliamentary elections.
At least 50 people were injured and 40 detained on the second day of a transport blockade, called by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's multi-party alliance, which is boycotting the January 22 vote.
Police used batons and teargas to disperse Hasina's stone-throwing supporters after they set ablaze several vehicles across the capital Dhaka and its outskirts, witnesses said.
As the violence spread, caretaker President Iajuddin Ahmed called army chief Lieutenant-General Moiuddin U. Khan to the presidential palace to discuss the disorder.
Army troops patrolling the streets of Dhaka have so far avoided direct confrontation with the activists.
About 70 people including police were injured on Sunday, the first day of the three-day blockade.
Hasina's alliance called the transport shutdown in protest at what it sees as the interim government's inability to hold a free and fair vote. It says Iajuddin favours Hasina's rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, in the polls.
The alliance, which has threatened to block access to the presidential palace on Tuesday, wants Iajuddin to resign but he has refused.
Police ordered a ban tonight on the palace blockade and said offenders would be dealt with severely.
At least 45 people have been killed and hundreds injured in clashes between political rivals since Khaleda ended her five-year tenure as prime minister in late October and handed power to the interim authority.
Hasina and her allies want election officials "biased towards Khaleda" to be removed, a new election schedule and an overhaul of the list of registered voters.