A general strike called to protest rising prices and alleged government harassment of political rivals yesterday shut down schools and shops and disrupted public transport across Bangladesh cities and towns.
Police used batons to disperse dozens of supporters of the strike who tried to march through downtown Dhaka, where nearly 5,000 police and paramilitary soldiers were deployed. At least 10 people were injured, witnesses said.
"Any kind of vandalism or intimidation will be dealt with seriously," Dhaka's police chief Abdul Quayyum said earlier yesterday.
The strike, sponsored by the main opposition Awami League party, affected Dhaka, the capital of 10 million people, and dozens of other major cities and towns, police officials said.
In Dhaka, schools, shops and private offices did not open. However, government offices opened and authorities asked employees to report to work.
The protest had a mixed effect on public transportation. While private cars stayed off the roads, many buses and tricycle rickshaws operated in Dhaka. Planes, trains and river ferries were not disrupted, government authorities said.
Such protests, which sometimes turn violent, are a common opposition tactic in Bangladesh.
Nearly 60 lawmakers from the Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have boycotted Parliament since Thursday, accusing Speaker Jamiruddin Sirkar of switching off their microphones whenever they tried to speak.
Opposition legislators said they wanted to criticize the government over issues such as rising prices and political murders.
"The government is attacking the opposition. The prices of food and other essential items are rising," Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil said. "We are living in a terrible situation."
Inflation is running at 5.9 percent this year, up 1.5 percentage points from last year, an Asian Development Bank report said last month.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese