Activists and police clashed in Bangladesh today, injuring at least 50 people at the start of a three-day transport blockade aimed at derailing upcoming general elections.
Witnesses said police were also injured in the clashes in Shyamoli, a residential area of the capital, Dhaka. Police used teargas and rubber bullets against stone-throwing activists of a multi-party alliance set to boycott the elections on January 22.
Police detained 30 people in Shyamoli and other areas. Rail officials said protesters stopped trains at major junctions.
The country's political crisis deepened on Wednesday when the alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, head of the Awami League, announced it's boycott plan, accusing the interim government of favouring her opponents.
The Jatiya Party of former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad and the Liberal Democratic Party led by former president A.Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury also decided to boycott the polls.
The alliance said the blockade was aimed at forcing President Iajuddin Ahmed to step down as head of the interim government and force the election commission to announce new poll schedules.
Iajuddin, in a statement late yesterday, said the vote could not be delayed because of constitutional constraints.
But an adviser to the interim government, Shafiqul Haque Chowdhury, said today the president had asked his deputies to consult the rival political groups to see if both sides would agree to delay the ballot.
"Three advisers including myself have met today a top leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the immediate past ruling party, acting on signals given by the chief adviser (Iajuddin)," he told reporters after the meeting.
He did not give details but said a similar meeting was expected with leaders of Hasina's Awami League.
"If both sides have a consensus, maybe we can try to find a way to have a new election schedule, within or outside the framework of the constitution," Shafiqul said.
The constitution stipulates that new elections must be held within three months after the tenure of a government expires.
BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia ended her five-year rule as the country's prime minister in late October and handed power to a caretaker government headed by Iajuddin.