Thousands of security forces patrolled the streets in the capital Dhaka and nearby Tongi town yesterday as a general strike called to protest the slaying of an opposition lawmaker brought Bangladesh to a near standstill.
Gunmen opened fire at an opposition rally in Tongi on Friday, killing Ahsanullah Master, a lawmaker from the country's main opposition Awami League.
The strike is part of three days of action called by the opposition party to protest Master's death, which they blame on government supporters. Authorities suspect his death may be linked to an internal party feud.
The nationwide dawn-to-dusk strike shut down schools and shops in Dhaka, a city of 10 million people. Streets were empty of traffic except a few state-run buses and rickshaws.
Many commuters walked to work yesterday -- a working day in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
Riot police manned barbed-wire barricades erected around the headquarters of the Awami League in central Dhaka, preventing its members from taking to the streets.
Security was similarly tight in Tongi and more than 60 other cities and towns where the strike took hold, the opposition said.
No strike-related violence was immediately reported.
The Awami League often calls general strikes to highlight its demands or embarrass the government, and the strikes frequently turn violent.
Authorities deployed several thousand police and paramilitary soldiers on the streets of Dhaka and Tongi to prevent violence during the opposition-sponsored general strike, Dhaka police chief Ashraful Huda said.
On Friday and Saturday, riot police clashed with thousands of opposition supporters who rampaged through Dhaka and Tongi to protest Master's shooting.
Angry mobs attacked government buildings, shops, trains, cars and buses. One person was killed when police fired shots to disperse a mob in Tongi on Friday.
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