Editor-in-Chief: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman   Police clash with protesters in Dhaka   DHAKA, Bangladesh: Riot police used batons to break up a protest march by hundreds of people in Bangladesh’s capital on Sunday during an opposition-called general strike. Police charged at about 300 stone-throwing protesters who tried to march through Dhaka’s central Mahakhali district in support of the strike, braving seasonal rains. No one was reported injured. Police detained several protesters, private TV station ATN Bangla reported. “Police are attacking us as if we are miscreants. This is no democracy,” opposition spokesman Mohammad Nasim told The Associated Press. “This government is increasingly autocratic.” An alliance of 14 opposition parties called the dawn-to-dusk strike to protest recent police violence against activists demanding electoral reform. The nationwide strike shut down schools and stores in Dhaka, a city of 10 million people. Streets were empty of most public transportation except tricycle rickshaws, which strike supporters allowed to operate. Local media reported similar disruptions in more than 60 other cities and towns across Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation where Sunday is a working day. General strikes are a common opposition tactic in Bangladesh to highlight demands and embarrass the government. Parliament was also scheduled to resume later on Sunday, but it was unclear whether the country’s main opposition parties who called the dawn-to-dusk strike would boycott the session. Organisers are protesting police violence against opposition activists who demonstrated in Dhaka on Wednesday to demand electoral reforms ahead of national polls due in January. Dozens of protesters were injured, including some opposition leaders, as they tried to march on the election commission. Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina has threatened to boycott the election unless reforms are made. Hasina’s Awami League party and its 13 smaller allies have planned a series of protests this month against Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s administration to press their demands. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police said about 10,000 security officials, including members of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles would be deployed to ensure security in Dhaka during Sunday’s strike. Zia has said in recent speeches that there would be no reforms and the election would be held on schedule under existing constitutional provisions. Her five-year term ends next month, and a nonparty caretaker government is to take over until after the elections, which must be held within 90 days. The opposition accuses the chief election commissioner, M A Aziz, of favouring Zia’s government. It also says the election commission included fake voters in a recently compiled electoral roll. Aziz and the government have denied the allegations.