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| Bangladesh |
| One killed, 100 hurt as B'desh police halt protests |
| 2010-07-08 |
| An activist died and more than 100 were wounded when Bangladesh riot police broke up anti-government protests across the country on Wednesday, police and witnesses said, with demonstrators calling for early elections. The activist died in a stampede when police clashed with demonstrators in Naogaon town, 250 km (160 miles) northwest of the capital, Dhaka. Police said the cause of death was a heart attack, but the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) blamed police for causing the stampede. Hundreds of protesters from the BNP, of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami, formed human chains in the capital and elsewhere. At least 30 people were hurt in Dhaka, and the rest in several cities and district headquarters including Chittagong port, where police arrested nearly 100 activists. Witnesses and officials said Wednesday's protests were the most violent and widespread since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office in January last year. "The autocratic government is out to deny us our democratic rights," BNP Secretary-General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said. "This will only compel us to call more protests." Police are holding dozens of BNP activists following a countrywide strike on June 27 and later arrested three top Jamaat leaders on charges of obstructing police, inciting violence, murder and sedition. Jamaat denies the charges and says the government is trying to crush anyone who speaks out against it. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Where's the RAB? Oh, right, it was daylight. |
| Posted by: Flapper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 2010-07-08 19:35 |