Police yesterday used tear-gas and batons to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in the first general strike in more than three years, which the opposition hopes can force early elections.
The strike, called by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami, halted public transport and kept most businesses shut in the impoverished country. Economists estimated it could cost the country $250 million (€202 million).
Government offices and banks remained open, but with less staff than usual. The stock markets in the capital, Dhaka, and second city Chittagong traded as usual, and the country’s main ports were still handling cargo, officials said.
The opposition parties said the strike, during which some two dozen people were injured, was intended to draw public attention to the government’s “failures and excesses” and to give impetus to their demands for a mid-term election. Bangladesh is due to hold parliamentary elections in 2013.
Police detained about 150 activists, including several senior BNP leaders, for inciting the unrest and leading marches during the strike. Protesters were reported to have hurled bricks at security forces and set vehicles ablaze. The interior ministry said about 10,000 riot police and other forces were deployed in Dhaka.
The strike was the first large-scale challenge by the BNP, led by Begum Khaleda Zia, to her rival, prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who took office in January 2009.
It was the first strike since January 2007, when an army-backed interim government took power, ending months of political unrest.
BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said the strike was a show of the “people’s lack of confidence in the government”.
A day earlier, Ms Hasina dismissed the strike, saying it was aimed at creating anarchy. “The BNP and its stooges are out to frustrate democracy and create anarchy. But people who gave us a huge mandate in 2008 elections will foil all evil designs,” she said on Saturday.
Political analysts said the strike was the latest manifestation of the long-running discord between Ms Hasina and Ms Khaleda, who are known as the “battling begums” and who have rotated the leadership of their country since 1991. “Begum” is an honorific term for lady in Bangladesh.
The opposition accuses the government of being unable to deliver on promises that include cracking down on corruption, improving power and gas supplies, attracting investment and keeping spiralling food prices in check. They are also angry that the government last month banned publication of a pro-opposition daily newspaper and arrested its editor on charges of sedition and maligning the government and Ms Hasina’s family.
The government says it is too early to assess its performance.