DHAKA, Bangladesh — At least five people died and scores more were injured Friday as opposition activists clashed with law enforcement across Bangladesh, defying bans on rallies amid a dispute about upcoming elections, police said.
Two opposition activists died when police fired upon protesters in Cox’s Bazar, about 250 miles southeast of Dhaka. Three others died in Chandpur, 100 miles south of the capital city.
Members of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party attacked law enforcement authorities as they tried to prevent a procession in Cox’s Bazar Chakoria sub-district, said police officer Ranjit Kumar Barua.
“We fired guns in self-defense,” Barua said, adding that at least seven security officials, including three paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh troops, were injured during the clashes.
The protesters set a car on fire and barricaded parts of the Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar highway, BGB Commander Col. Mehedi Hasan said.
Sirajul Islam, a physician at Chandpur health complex, said three people who sustained bullet wounds during clashes between police and activists died at the hospital. Twenty-five others were undergoing treatment.
The clashes in Chandpur erupted when law enforcers tried to disperse a BNP procession, he said, citing activists.
The clashes between the police and activists took place in the run-up to an announcement by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of a 60-hour nationwide strike, to last Sunday morning through Tuesday evening. That rally was sanctioned, as the opposition had promised no violence. Other activities had been banned during the week out of fears of a possible uptick in violence.
Under heavy police security, she announced the plan at a Dhaka rally, while demanding a nonparty caretaker administration for credible oversight of next year’s general election.
The BNP fears the polls will be rigged if it is conducted under the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed. Hasina last week called upon opposition parties to join an “all-party” caretaker government ahead of the Jan. 24 voting.
Clashes between police and activists also were reported in at least three other parts of Bangladesh.
