1 dead, dozens injured in march clashes in Bangladesh capital

One person died and dozens were injured as Bangladesh opposition men clashed with ruling party activists and law enforcers in capital Dhaka on Sunday. Clashes erupted in parts of the capital city as opposition men took to the streets to attend a march after rally slated for Sunday afternoon. An unidentified youth was found dead after huge clashes between the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party men and law enforcers in Dhaka's central Malibagh district at about 11:00 a.m. local time. Dozens of people including activists of Jamaat, key ally of ex- Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and cops were injured in the clashes. Tension also arose in Dhaka's apex court premises as scores of lawyers loyal to the main opposition party brought out procession from the Supreme Court Bar Association building at around 11: 00 a. m. local time on Sunday. Anti-riot police broke up the procession by using water cannon at the main gate of the Supreme Court and were seen to use sound grenades to disperse the lawyers. Before the court situation returned to normalcy, clashes erupted in Dhaka's National Press Club area which is very close to the apex court premises. Over a dozen of journalists, loyal to the opposition parties, were injured when pro-ruling party men hurled brick chips at them during a demonstration at the club premises. In retaliation, the pro-opposition journalists threw brickbats and stones. This time chase and counter-chase took place. Press Club situation still remains tense as journalists loyal to the ruling party also took to the streets to face their colleagues who tried to stage the demonstration indirectly to extend support to main opposition's march. Dozens of people have been arrested following the clashes in places of Dhaka. Thousands of anti-riot police and ruling party men were in the streets of Dhaka centering the opposition march after rally in the city. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday night through a press conference urged people from all strata of life to join the march toward capital Dhaka on Dec. 29 to put pressure on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government to scrap the parliamentary elections. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has not yet given permission to them for staging the march Sunday. Police put up barricades on both sides of the road leading to Khaleda's house since Saturday evening. On Sunday morning security was further beefed up in and around her house in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan. Khaleda was barred from attending the march after rally. "A car carrying opposition chief (Khaleda Zia) was stopped inside the garage of her house," BNP Vice President Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told Xinhua. The ruling Awami League party has vowed to resist the program and asked its activists to guard all entry points to Dhaka. Law enforcers including paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh and ruling party men have been searching Dhaka bound people in all the eight major entry points of Dhaka. Khaleda Zia's BNP and its 17 allies have asked Hasina to bring back a non-party caretaker system, or else the opposition won't participate in the next election because it fears an election without the non-party caretaker government will not be free and fair. All modes of transport bound for the capital stopped plying Saturday in an apparent move to keep opposition activists from carrying out their march. Some 21 opposition parties including the BNP are boycotting the elections over Hasina's refusal for non-party interim government to oversee the elections. Hasina's AL party ruled out Khaleda's calls for canceling the Jan. 5 polls.