BANGLADESh: Police fire rubber bullets and protesters block roads and remove railway tracks in nationwide protest against upcoming elections

Record ID: 263718

  • Title: BANGLADESh: Police fire rubber bullets and protesters block roads and remove railway tracks in nationwide protest against upcoming elections
  • Date: 5th December 2013
  • Summary: JOYPURHAT, BANGLADESH (DECEMBER 5, 2013) (REUTERS) **PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO AS INCOMING AND CAPTION ON PART OF MATERIAL AS INCOMING** PEOPLE STANDING AND WALKING BY RAIL TRACK OPPOSITION ACTIVISTS REMOVING PART OF TRACK TRAIN STANDING AT THE STATION BOGRA, BANGLADESH (DECEMBER 5, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF TOWN STREET DURING BLOCKADE PARAMILITARY FORCES DRIVE PAST POLICE
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Y0KYC5MXQVP40DMTKN5FNUIO
  • Story Text: Bangladeshi opposition supporters detonated scores of home-made bombs and removed railway tracks to disrupt train services on Thursday (December 5) during nationwide protests against upcoming elections.
    Railways became the main target of the blockaders but elsewhere supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) blocked roads, threw home-made bombs and set fire to vehicles.
    Rail services connecting towns with the capital Dhaka were disrupted for three hours during the morning as political activists removed rail tracks and according to local media, around 30 meters of rail tracks were removed near the Joypurhat railway station, some 260 kilometres from Dhaka.
    The incidents occurred on the sixth and last day of a BNP-led opposition blockade of rail, roads and waterways.
    The protests followed the announcement by the Election Commission in November that elections would be held on January 5. The BNP wanted to postpone the announcement until after an agreement had been reached on the formation of a caretaker cabinet to oversee the election.
    The BNP has rejected any attempt to hold an election until it is satisfied a neutral interim administration is in place without Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
    Both heirs to political dynasties, Hasina and BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia have rotated as prime minister for most of the last 22 years amid unending enmity, set against an all-too-familiar background of violent protest in one of the world's poorest countries.
    There was a similar blockade in November and the dispute over the conduct of the election has led to the deaths of at least 30 people in protests and a series of strikes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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