Violent clashes at Bangladesh protests

DHAKA: Police in Bangladesh fired rubber bullets and tear gas on Sunday at thousands of activists demonstrating for the restoration of a religious pledge to the nation's constitution.

Scores of demonstrators and police officers were injured during anti-government clashes in the industrial towns of Fatullah and Kanchpur, outside the capital Dhaka, police and local media said.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and various religious parties called for the nationwide strike from Sunday morning to demand the vow in "absolute faith in Allah" be re-instated as a pillar of the constitution.

The government last month made changes to bolster the secular character of the original 1972 constitution, although Islam was retained as the state religion.

In a wave of political unrest, the BNP and its allies have also enforced a recent series of strikes over changes to the electoral system that they say unfairly favour the incumbent government.

Much of Bangladesh has been shut down for four of the last eight days and on Sunday shops, businesses and schools were closed.

Fatullah, home to hundreds of factories making clothes for top global retailers, was hit by hours of fighting on Sunday as police battled with 600 protesters -- mostly students -- who threw bricks and blocked roads.

"The activists attacked us. They beat seven of our officers who are injured. We shot rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the unruly crowds," Fatullah police chief Ainul Haq told AFP.

Haq did not say whether any protesters were injured, but Private Bangla Vision television put the injury toll at around 50.

At Kanchpur, the main highway linking Dhaka with the port city of Chittagong turned into a battleground as police broke up protesters who were armed with bamboo sticks.

He said at least 12 police officers were injured in clashes as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the road.

Police also fired from close range at a barber shop where some protesters had taken refuge, according to an AFP photographer. The assualt left several demonstrators were bleeding from head wounds.

Some of the clashes were between pro- and anti-strike supporters, police said.

Moshiur Rahmand, a doctor at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told AFP about 20 injured people had been admitted for treatment.

Police spokesman Masud Ahmed said magistrates were on duty to hand out on-the-spot jail terms to rioters.

In Chittagong, dozens of people were arrested in a pre-dawn swoop on the protesters, city police chief Meshbah Uddin Ahmed told AFP.

Cargo deliveries were suspended at Chittagong port, which handles 90 percent of the country's $50 billion foreign trade.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011