Marathon strike grips Bangladesh

Transport officials said today most of the highway buses were stranded, at least nine domestic flights were cancelled but trains operated normally.

In the capital Dhaka, police and witnesses reported only minor clashes. Doctors at the Dhaka Medical College hospital said they treated four people for minor injuries. Police and soldiers were also out in force in Chittagong port city.

“Cargo handling is continuing partially but delivery from the port has been totally stopped,” a port official said.

On Sunday and Monday, in the run-up to the strike, activists turned over cars and trucks and set two vehicles on fire, police and witnesses said. The latest strike was called by opposition leader begum Khaleda Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and her allies in a four-party opposition alliance.

Begum Khaleda has led a campaign of 55 major strikes aimed at toppling the government since Hasina’s Awami League won the election in June 1996.Analysts say the strikes have seriously damaged the impoverished nation’s fragile economy and driven away investors.