Thousands march on B'desh capital to call for electoral reforms
BANGLADESH: More than 20,000 activists marched in the Bangladeshi
capital, defying driving rains, in the fifth day of protests to press
for electoral reforms ahead of January polls, police said.
Chanting slogans such as "no reforms, no polls," and "accept reforms
before it is too late", the protestors representing a 14-party
opposition alliance began the march from Babu Bazar in the old part of
Dhaka, police said.
More than 20,000 joined the march as it proceeded peacefully despite
downpours, assistant commissioner of police Faridul Islam said.
The parties, led by the main opposition Awami League, started six
days of marches across the country on Tuesday to force electoral reforms
they say are necessary for free and fair national polls scheduled for
January.
Thousands of police and elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) units were
deployed along the route after intelligence agencies warned of
"subversive acts" by extremists.
"More than 3,000 police and RAB officers were on guard at all the key
points along the route to prevent any violence or any subversive acts,"
Islam said.
A series of nationwide bomb blasts linked to a radical Islamic group
has plagued in Bangladesh since August last year. The blasts killed 28
people, including four suicide bombers.
In the last two years, major political violence has also rocked the
country, killing a former finance minister and a popular opposition
member of parliament.
Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister and leader of the Awami League,
narrowly escaped a grenade attack at an August 2004 rally in the capital
which killed at least 20 people.
The main opposition Awami League and its 13 allies have held frequent
protests in the past two months to demand that the country's chief
election commissioner and his two deputies, whom they accuse of being
partisan, resign before the elections.
DHAKA, Sunday, AFP |