DHAKA-
Bangladesh was on edge on Monday after two protesters were shot dead and scores injured in clashes between the ruling party and opposition activists, a grim marking of the first anniversary of last year’s controversial and violent national polls.
The normally clogged streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, were nearly empty on Monday afternoon, as authorities cut off bus, rail and ferry services in to the city and thousands of riot police were deployed in anticipation of more unrest.
“Security has been ramped up across the country, including Dhaka, to thwart any untoward incidents,” Dhaka district police chief Habibur Rahman told a foreign news agency.
Bangladesh has been a state of political uncertainty since last January, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League came to power for a second consecutive term after a bloody parliamentary election that was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and deemed as flawed by international observers.
On Monday, despite police warnings, opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia refused to call off rallies planned in Dhaka to mark what the BNP has dubbed “democracy killing day.”
Khaleda, a former prime minister herself, has demanded fresh polls under a neutral administration, calling Hasina’s government “undemocratic and illegal”.
The opposition leader says she has been confined to her office in Dhaka’s diplomatic enclave since Saturday, according to BNP’s party officials, with armored vehicles equipped with water cannons parked outside.
Police had locked the main gate of Khaleda’s office as she prepared to leave the office, witnesses said.
The government denied Khaleda was being confined, saying it had deployed extra security forces to ensure the former prime minister’s security.
“Khaleda Zia is not confined,” Hasina reportedly said at a meeting of her party’s student wing on Sunday, according to media.
“Who has confined her? She can go to her residence any time.”
Police said at least two people were killed on Monday, shot dead during clashes between ruling and opposition party activists in the northwestern district of Natore.
The opposition said the victims were BNP activists, though police have not confirmed their identity.
BNP officials said hundreds of their supporters have been detained across the country since Saturday as protests have been reported in several other towns. Some crude bombs have exploded in Dhaka and other parts of the country, according to reports.
Hasina and Zia, both related to former national leaders, have nursed a long and bitter rivalry, and have dominated politics in Bangladesh for more than two decades.