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Police, protesters clash during strike in Bangladesh

Police used batons yesterday to disperse stone-throwing protesters during an opposition-sponsored general strike in the Bangladeshi capital, leaving at least 20 people injured, witnesses and news reports said.

An alliance of 14 opposition parties called the nationwide strike to protest the weekend killing by police of six people demonstrating against a proposed coal mine by a British firm in northern Bangladesh.

The strike was also called in support of a leftist group, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Power, Port and Mineral Resources, which has been staging violent protests to demand that the government scrap a deal that permits Asia Energy PLC to mine for coal in the Phulbari area of northern Dinajpur district.

The committee says the mine's development would displace more than 40,000 villagers and damage the environment in Dinajpur, a farming district 270km north of Dhaka.

Strike-related clashes occurred in the capital's northern Mirpur district. At least 20 people were injured there, according to private TV station Channel-i.

In Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, the strike closed down schools and shops and disrupted traffic.

Opposition parties commonly call strikes to highlight their demands and embarrass the government. They often succeed because people stay home to avoid getting caught between police and demonstrators.

A mob in Phulbari attacked at least seven homes and stores belonging to Asia Energy employees on Monday.

Two days earlier, security forces fatally shot six people who were among thousands of protesters trying to take over the company's office in the area.
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