Strike Violence Erupts in Bangladesh; 100 Hurt

Protesters burned down an army recruiting center and at least 100 people were injured as widespread violence erupted during a general strike against the government in Bangladesh on Wednesday, witnesses said.

They said nearly 400 opposition militants set the army center on fire in Dhaka’s crowded Azimpur residential district, gutting the single-story brick building. The militants then assaulted the occupants and also set two military vehicles ablaze.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrested eight people, the witnesses said.

Police said 80 people were arrested in clashes between government and opposition supporters in several districts.

Most inhabitants appeared to back the 54-hour strike, called by 21 opposition parties to force President Hussain Mohammed Ershad from power on the grounds that he is still running a “military dictatorship.”

Most streets in the capital and other cities were empty of traffic apart from heavily guarded vehicles ferrying ministers and senior officials to their offices.

Ershad had vowed to frustrate the strike, the longest since he seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1982. He restored democracy after parliamentary elections in May, 1986.

In Dhaka’s Motijheel commercial district, police used tear gas to break up street battles and disperse crowds throwing fire bombs at an office of the ruling Jatiya party. The bombs set furniture and papers on fire.

Police said strikers also burned at least six vehicles carrying armed Jatiya supporters and stoned a minister’s car. Hospital sources said dozens of people were injured, some by bullets, but they had no details of shootings.

In the port city of Chittagong, at least 20 people were arrested when police using nightsticks dispersed demonstrators stoning government offices. The stoppage idled 37 vessels at Chittagong, officials said.

Opposition leader Sheik Hasina said all shops, factories and offices were closed despite government warnings and threats of penalties.

“We have paralyzed the government and the country despite a loud-mouthed pledge by the president that he would keep the life normal. What will he say now?” Hasina said.

Begum Khaleda Zia, head of a seven-party alliance that co-sponsored the strike with Hasina’s eight-party alliance and other groups, said people were “turning their backs to the hated dictator Ershad . . . .”

“I urge the peace- and freedom-loving people to completely cripple Ershad’s government because this will eventually bring his downfall,” Zia said.