Security forces in Bangladesh arrested more than 200 people Sunday as the first nationwide general strike since elections in 2008 was marred by violence, police said. In the capital Dhaka, security forces fired tear gas and used batons to disperse hundreds of opposition activists as they tried to hold marches along major roads, police said.An opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lawmaker was hurt when supporters and opponents of the strike clashed at Dhaka University, police spokesman Walid Hossain said, adding the man was rushed to hospital and later arrested.
At least 12,000 policemen and the Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in Dhaka to try to avert violence as the shutdown brought much of the capital of 13 million people and the country to a standstill.
Police said the strike had halted transport throughout the country and disrupted business operations. In Dhaka, most private offices, shops, schools and colleges were closed.
The BNP had called the strike to protest against
The Awami League swept to power in January 2009 after a landslide election victory on December 29, 2008. The BNP, which ruled the country twice after democracy was restored in 1990, was reduced to a small opposition.
Police used batons to disperse opposition activists, footage shown by private television channel Bangla Vision showed. The channel also reported that several people had been injured. At least 96 people, including two former BNP ministers, were arrested during the strike and 120 activists were taken into custody hours before it began.
Opposition activists hurled small bombs and pieces of brick at police but there were no casualties, he told AFP.