Bangladesh is facing a showdown between its two most important parties - the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League (AL), which are respectively headed by two feisty women-Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina.
Monday was the first anniversary of the holding of general elections, which the BNP had boycotted, and Zia and her supporters organized a strike to protest the alleged atrocities of the ruling Awami League.
Violence is on the rise across the country. Recently, two BNP activists were shot dead. Zia, who claimed that she has been locked in her office, urged BNP activists to continue their protest and force the government to hold fresh polls.
It may be recalled that Zia had refused to take part in the 2014 polls after her demand for a caretaker government to oversee the elections was rejected.
The BNP-led boycott saw a majority of members returning to their seats in the 300-member Parliament unopposed, and ensured the Awami League another five years in power.
BNP leader Badruddoza Chowdhury, who was turned away from meeting Khaleda Zia, said, "She is confined. It's an insult to democracy."
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Although Zia has not been officially arrested, police cordoned her office in Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan District on Saturday and prevented her from visiting a sick colleague.
The BNP headquarters in central Dhaka were padlocked by police at midnight on Saturday, and police vans barricaded nearby roads.
Party officials claimed that about 400 supporters have been arrested so far, including two senior party officials.
Scuffles broke out near the BNP office on Sunday when Chowdhury was prevented from meeting Zia.
Zia's lawyer, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, did manage to meet her on Sunday, informing reporters that she had urged people to "continue protests until the government is toppled".
Police reports said that at least ten people were injured and more than a dozen vehicles were torched and damaged in Dhaka, as protests broke out across the country.
It is being claimed that opposition protests are causing grave economic losses, loss of life and damage to property in a country which is striving for development.