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Political clashes mar Bangladesh independence day
Celebrations to mark Bangladesh's independence yesterday were marred by clashes between political rivals and police ahead of elections due next month.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 December 17, 2006
Dhaka: Celebrations to mark Bangladesh's independence yesterday were marred by clashes between political rivals and police ahead of elections due next month.
The military marked the public holiday with a dawn artillery barrage and people poured into the streets chanting "victory is forever, let us keep it safe". Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan on December 16, 1971, after a nine-month guerrilla war in which millions died.
Addressing a parade in Dhaka, President Iajuddin Ahmad urged Bangladeshis to make the impoverished country a happy and prosperous nation. He lay a wreath at the national war memorial at Savar, 25km from the capital, followed by former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Shaikh Hasina, witnesses said.
Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Hasina's Awami League are vying for power in elections on January 23. The run-up to the polls has been violent and tense with rival activists clashing almost daily. At least 44 have been killed and hundreds injured since late October. Twenty people were wounded in clashes among rival student groups in Mymensingh Agricultural University, 130km north of the capital Dhaka during celebrations.
Part of a dormitory was set on fire and rooms at another were vandalised. Police used batons to disperse rival groups fighting with sticks and stones. At least 10 people were injured in fighting overnight when rival party officials gathered to lay wreaths at a war memorial in the southern city of Chittagong.
More than 300foreign poll observers
More than 300 foreign observers are set to arrive in Bangladesh to monitor parliamentary elections on January 23, officials said.
The United Nations will coordinate the poll monitors mainly from the United States and the European Union, which will deploy the largest team.
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