200 activists wounded in opposition siege of Bangladeshi PM's office

Over 200 activists, including leaders of the opposition 14-party combine, were wounded Tuesday during a planned siege of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's office, as parts of the capital turned a battle field.

The combine led by the main opposition Awami League (AL) laid the siege to force the government to reform the caretaker government system and the Election Commission (EC) and remove the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and his three deputies for a clean election.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse the opposition activists and leaders, who attempted to march towards prime minister's office from four sides of the office defying a ban on assembly of more than four persons at a place several kilometers around the office.

Police put barbed-wire fences in all the roads leading to prime minister's office, but the opposition activists attempted to remove those fences to clear their way.

Police charged baton, heavily wounding the workers and leaders. Many beaten workers were seen lying on streets and some were seen bleeding profusely. The activists were seen dragging their wounded colleagues.

The activists of the combine fought with brick missiles, and often police were seen retreating to safer places. The battle continued for about two hours in all the fronts.

The government posted 10,000 riot police, anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) cordoned the prime minister's office from all the fronts to keep law and order.

The combine has been agitating for the last 18 months to compel the government to go for the reforms. The leaders of the combine said they will not join the upcoming general elections in January next year if their demand are not met. They also threatened not to allow the government to hold the election.

The BNP-led four-party alliance government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will end its five years tenure on Oct. 27 and hand over power to a non-partisan caretaker government on Oct. 28 to conduct the national polls in three months.

The combine said that the man who will head the caretaker government is a man of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP) and the CEC is also sided with BNP.

Source: Xinhua