Bangladesh has arrested a key opposition
figure and deployed thousands of police as
opposition protests held to mark the first
anniversary of last year's controversial polls
entered a second day.
The arrest on Tuesday of Mirza Fakrul Islam
Alamgir, acting secretary general of the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), came a
day after four activists of the party were killed
in clashes with supporters of the ruling Awami
League.
Alamgir was detained as he stepped out of
the National Press Club in the capital Dhaka,
where he had taken shelter, police said.
"He was arrested in specific cases," police
official Mashiur Rahman said, without
elaborating.
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina has launched a crackdown on displays
of anti-government sentiment in Dhaka as
BNP leader Khaleda Zia stepped up calls for
fresh elections.
Police used teargas and rubber bullets to
scatter protesters in Dhaka and elsewhere.
"We had to use teargas and rubber bullets to
disperse opposition activists after they
smashed nearly a dozen vehicles and set off
blasts," said Khayrul Fazal, a police official in
the northeastern district of Sylhet.
Bangladesh authorities on Tuesday threatened
to bring murder charges against Zia -
confined to her Dhaka office since Saturday -
over accusations that she and Alamgir incited
a nationwide wave of deadly violence.
Zia, who was due to join a mass rally marking
the first anniversary of the polls boycotted by
her party and won by Hasina, has been barred
from leaving by police.
Last January, Hasina's Awami League came
to power for a second consecutive term after
violent elections boycotted by 20 other smaller
opposition parties, provoking criticism from
international observers over the poll's
legitimacy.
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