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| Monday, 13 December 2004 |
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Bangladesh opposition in 900-km human chain protest DHAKA, Sunday (Reuters) Up to 100 people were injured in clashes in Bangladesh as millions of opposition activists formed a 900-km (560-mile) "human chain" to demonstrate no confidence in the government on Saturday, officials and witnesses said. "The clashes erupted among stick wielding activists of different political parties in the northern region," said a senior administrative official at Bogra 250 km (156 miles) north of the capital. Despite the clashes the opposition said the demonstration of no confidence in the government was successful. "The programme was a success as some 10 million people, double our expectation, joined the programme, despite obstruction by the government," Mohammad Abdul Jalil, general Secretary of the Awami League told Reuters. Opposition leaders had expected about five million activists and supporters of the Awami League and 13 other left leaning parties to complete the chain by late afternoon. Leaders of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) denied that its workers were involved in the clashes, saying they occurred between rival groups from opposition parties. Participants stood hand in hand on the roadsides linking Teknaf in the southeast with Tentulia in the northwest for an hour to show no confidence in the government of Begum Khaleda Zia, Jalil said. The government deployed thousands of police and paramilitary troops to tackle any possible violence during the formation of the cross-country human chain. Thousands of activists carrying loudspeakers, banners and placards with anti-government slogans had been converging since the morning, witnesses said. Helicopters carrying troops from the elite Rapid Action Battalion flew over major urban centres in the densely populated country of 132 million to monitor the protest. |
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