INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bangladesh police have fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse stone-throwing crowds blockading main roads in the capital, Dhaka, in a
protests since last year demanding that Sheikh Hasina step down and allow a caretaker government to oversee the elections that are scheduled
for January next year.Clashes erupted in several locations on Saturday when police moved in to clear thousands of people who had gathered in
city.Agence France-Presse journalists at one protest site in Dholaikhal, an old neighbourhood that is now a hub for vehicle repair shops,
saw protesters retaliate by throwing rocks at riot police and their vehicles.Bacchu Mia, a police inspector at the Dhaka medical college
hospital, said six protesters had been admitted to the hospital with injuries.Ahmed said the senior BNP leaders Goyeshwar Roy and Amanullah
Aman had been taken into police custody but had not been formally arrested.Transport links between the capital and other parts of the
and has been accused of human rights abuses, corruption and creeping authoritarianism.Protests led by the BNP have become increasingly
common since the start of the year, with rallies this month drawing tens of thousands of people to the streets.Police arrested at least 500
forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds extrajudicially and disappearing hundreds of
leaders and supporters.The US placed sanctions on the elite Rapid Action Battalion security force and seven of its senior officers in
arrest after a conviction on graft charges.
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com
