Pre-polls violence leaves 1 dead, dozens injured in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Deadly pre-polls violence left one person dead and dozens injured in Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The violence broke out ahead of Saturday’s rally of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has a long-standing rivalry with incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League (AL) party.

Law enforcers clashed with BNP activists outside the party’s headquarters in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Bachchu Miah, chief of Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s police outpost, told reporters that several people were rushed to the hospital following the clashes.

“A man who sustained bullet injuries in the clash died at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he said.

Several leading local media outlets were putting the number of injured at about 50.

Md Hayatul Islam Khan, a senior Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the opposition supporters blocked both sides of a major road in front of its headquarters on Wednesday.

When police attempted to remove them, they began throwing brickbats at the policemen and the clash erupted. Several policemen were injured in the incident, according to the DMP official.

The BNP has planned the massive rally on Dec. 10, but the venue is yet to be decided by the authorities.

Zia, who has thrice been the prime minister, has been in jail since she was convicted in a corruption case in February 2018. The BNP is gearing up street protests to press its demand of free and fair parliament election slated to be held early 2024 under a neutral caretaker government.

Hasina’s AL government is entering the last year of its third consecutive tenure next year. Enditem