Clashes As Strike Shuts Down Dhaka
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday February 15, 1988
DHAKA, Sunday: Protesters fought sporadic stone-throwing battles with police today as a renewed general strike closed shops and offices in the capital of Bangladesh.
The streets were empty of traffic other than a few pedal rickshaws and Government buses.
Police described the incidents as minor compared with sustained clashes yesterday in which at least 20 people were injured, many by fragment-packed home-made bombs, and one man killed by a bomb he was making.
The weekend stoppages were the latest in a series of strikes called by the opposition to oust President Ershad. They turned into a specific protest against election day violence last Wednesday in which 152 people were reported killed and more than 8,000 injured.
The Government said 80 people died and had ordered newspapers to print only the official death toll to avoid sensationalism, a Home Ministry official said.
Opposition leaders congratulated people for joining yesterday's strike. The Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina, demanded that parliamentary elections set for March 3 be called off in view of the violence at last week's local council voting.
"If the so-called election takes place, it will prove that the Government wants more massacre," she told a party meeting on Sunday.
Twenty-one opposition parties have vowed to boycott the election unless President Ershad, a former general, resigns and hands power to a caretaker government.
The ruling Jatiya Party secretary-general, Mr Shah Moazzem Hossain said the March 3 electionwould go ahead despite opposition objections.
He told a party meeting he would start campaign tours tomorrow.
The Home Minister, Mr Abdul Matin, said about 70,000 paramilitary police already in the countryside would be able to ensure order during the elections
"I don't think there will be any large-scale trouble unless the opposition parties go hell-bent for it," he said.
© 1988 Sydney Morning Herald
