Rival activists fought each other with guns and home-made bombs in the Bangladeshi capital yesterday as thousands rallied to demand the resignation of election officials ahead of next month's polls, witnesses said.
At least two people were injured during the clashes at a Dhaka University campus. The clashes occurred between supporters of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her archrival, Sheikh Hasina -- the head of a 14-party alliance.
The violence started after Zia's student supporters tried to prevent members of Hasina's alliance from taking part in rallies near the official house of President Iajuddin Ahmed.
The scene of the clashes was blocks away from central Dhaka, where thousands of protesters rallied to demand the resignation of election officials, despite an interim government renewing efforts to end the political impasse.
The protesters are from an alliance of 14 political parties that has accused the country's five election officials of bias in favor of Zia.
Sheikh Hasina, who is also a former prime minister, has rejected the Jan. 21 date for the elections, demanding that voter rolls she alleges are flawed be corrected before polls are held.
The demonstrators planned to stage a sit-in outside Ahmen's official house. But barbed-wire barricades manned by security forces kept them blocks away.
Ahmed is heading the interim government after Zia constitutionally transferred power after completing her five-year term in office on Oct. 29.
The protesters have accused Ahmed of failing to prove that he would remain neutral through the polls to elect a new parliament.
Streets around the president's office were closed to traffic. The closures caused huge traffic snarls in other parts of the city of 10 million people.
The political standoff has provoked international concern.
Hasina's alliance has threatened another nationwide transport shutdown if her demands are not met by tomorrow.
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