From: "Curtis Price" <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Mon, 25 Aug 1997 10:59:23 +0000
Subject: AUT: (Fwd) Scores hurt in Bangladesh strike violence


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sun, 24 Aug 1997 04:21:10 -0700
From:          NewsHound <NewsHound-AT-hound.com>

Reply-to:      NewsHound-AT-hound.com
Subject:       Scores hurt in Bangladesh strike violence



NewsHound article from "STRIKES" hound, score "63."



Scores hurt in Bangladesh >>strike<< violenceBY ANIS AHMED

DHAKA, Aug 24 (Reuter) - Police used batons and teargas in running battles
with opposition activists during a countrywide general >>strike<< that kept
transport off the streets and shut businesses across Bangladesh on Sunday,
witnesses said.

Sunday is a working day in Moslem Bangladesh.

Clashes erupted in the capital Dhaka and its suburbs after activists
exploded dozens of home-made bombs to scare away the few people who
ventured on the streets.

Witnesses said up to 50 people were injured, including a newspaper
photographer who was hit by a teargas shell and was rushed to hospital in
critical condition.

Police arrested nearly 20 activists, they said.

The day-long >>strike<< was called by Begum Khaleda Zia, chief of the main
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to protest against a recent
increase in fuel prices. It has been supported by several right-wing
parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami party.

In Dhaka and the main port city of Chittagong, there was no transport on
the streets except for a few rickshaws. Trains did not leave their stations
or were halted by pro-strike activists on their way. Only a few ferries
sailed off before dawn.

Offices, shops and schools were all closed, witnesses said.

The >>strike<< also gripped other major towns in the country, police said.

The country's two stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong were closed. Work
in the Chittagong port were mostly suspended, port officials said.

On Tuesday the government raised prices per litre of unleaded petrol to 23
taka from 14.65, leaded petrol to 21 taka from 13.7, and diesel to 12.95
from 12.7.

In response, Khaleda called for a countrywide >>strike<< and warned the
government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of ``dire consequences'' if it
did not lower fuel prices.

The ruling Awami League said the BNP was using the fuel hike as a ``pretext
to intensify its anti-government campaign and mobilise rightist forces
under its banner.''

Khaleda left for Pakistan on Saturday on her way to the United States,
where she would spend two weeks meeting her followers and BNP supporters,
party sources said.

The government said the price hike was necessary, among other reasons, to
reflect the decline of the country's currency, the taka, against the U.S.
dollar.

Government officials said the impact of higher fuel prices would affect
only a small proportion of the population with cars and minicabs. Other
vehicles including lorries and buses would be virtually unaffected because
they use diesel.

Authorities had reinforced security in Dhaka by deploying hundreds of extra
police and paramilitary troops.

``We have been directed to protect people and public property...,'' one
police officer said.

Thousands of BNP activists marching in Dhaka on Saturday night described
the >>strike<< as the ``beginning of the downfall of the anti-people
government'' of Sheikh Hasina, who took office in June 1996.

($1 - 44.55 taka)  REUTER Reut02:52 08-24-97 

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