100,000 rally in Bangladeshi capital to demand electoral reforms
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2006
The crowd filled a downtown soccer field and streets around it on Monday, waving flags and shouring anti-government slogans, as some 12,000 security forces were deployed to prevent violence. The rally was sponsored by an alliance of 14 opposition parties, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The opposition wants the removal of four election commissioners, saying they are biased toward Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's four-party ruling coalition. The commissioners have denied the allegation and refused to resign.
The opposition also wants a say in choosing the head of a caretaker administration that will conduct the elections after Zia constitutionally hands over power in October.
Addressing the huge rally, Hasina said the alliance will enforce a nationwide transport strike on Wednesday and a general strike on Thursday — forcing shops and schools to close across the country — to press their demands.
"If the government does not meet our demands, we will go for tougher action after that," Hasina said.
Shutdowns are common opposition tactics in Bangladesh to highlight demands or force the government to act.
The alliance has previously rejected government proposals to discuss their grievances, saying they were not sincere.
Police and organizers declined to assess the crowd size, but an Associated Press reporter estimated the number of protesters in the stadium and surrounding areas at about 100,000.
Authorities ordered tight security around Monday's meeting venue. Special police forces searched the grounds with dogs, and installed security cameras around the field, said Dhaka's police chief Mizanur Rahman.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police warned demonstrators not to carry bamboo sticks and metal rods, which are commonly brandished at marches.
Abdul Jalil, an opposition spokesman, accused police of arresting hundreds of opposition activists ahead of the rally. "Police have arrested many of our members to create panic. But our campaign will be a success despite the harassment," Jalil told reporters.
The opposition has been staging a series of general strikes and street protests in recent months. Many of the demonstrations turned violent with clashes between opposition supporters and security officials.
Last Tuesday, at least 100 people, including more than a dozen law enforcers, were injured when baton-wielding riot police battled more than 6,000 stone-throwing opposition activists who tried to overrun barbed-wire barricades to march into the prime minister's well-guarded office in the capital, Dhaka.
