Anti-Government Protesters Battle Bangladesh Police

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Sunday to disperse nearly 3,000 anti-government protesters who exploded crude bombs, attacked government offices and set vehicles on fire. At least 150 people were injured.

Burned-out tear gas shells, splinters of homemade bombs, rocks and sticks littered downtown Dhaka streets near government offices after more than two hours of fighting between police and protesters. Police detained dozens of the protesters.

The daylong demonstration was organized by the country’s main opposition parties to press for Prime Minister Sheik Hasina Wajed’s resignation and for fresh elections.

The parties will begin a three-day nationwide general strike today to protest what they described as the roughing up of protesters by the police, said opposition spokesman Mohammad Kamruzzman.

Violence broke out as supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia tried to overrun barbed-wire barricades protecting government ministries. Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, heads the four-party opposition alliance.

The clashes spread to a nearby neighborhood, and the protesters set off hundreds of tin pots filled with explosives and tried to set fire to a gas station.

The opposition accuses the government of corruption, incompetence and harassment of political opponents.

Wajed denied the opposition charge and on Saturday offered to hold talks with her rivals. But Zia rejected the offer.