Two persons were killed today as fresh clashes erupted in the Bangladeshi capital between opposition supporters and security forces, who used waters cannons and tear gas to foil attempts by BNP activists to siege government offices to derail the January 5 polls.
Around 11,000 policemen patrolled the city as hundreds of demonstrators defied a government ban to take to the streets to stage main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party's "march for democracy".
Authorities have detained over 1,000 opposition activists, trying to gather in the capital, after raiding homes of opposition supporters and trains.
Police used waters cannons and tear gas canisters on the BNP activists as they tried to stage protest rallies in front of the Supreme Court complex and the National Press Club in central Dhaka, sparking clashes with the supporters of the ruling Awami League.
The paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops joined hands with elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and riot police in cordoning off the BNP's central office in nearby Naya Paltan and the residence of its party chief ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia at upmarket Gulshan area.
Witnesses said opposition activists were seen in front of the office even as the law enforcement agencies did not allow anyone to cross makeshift barbed-wire barricades on streets leading to Naya Paltan, the venue fixed for the rally.
A student of a private university succumbed to his wounds as police intercepted a procession of BNP and its crucial ally Jamaat-e-Islami at Rampura area, police and witnesses said.
"The boy was injured as they (activists) hurled bomb on us, forcing us to retaliate with gunshots," a police officer told newsmen, adding that the student was declared dead after he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was later identified as an activist of Jamaat's student wing.
A security guard was killed and another injured as suspected opposition activists hurled a crude bomb on the platform of Dhaka's main Kamalapur railway station, railway officials said.
"We arrested two suspects who hurled the bombs, one of which also injured the two," a railway police officer said.
BNP chief Zia stayed confined inside her residence despite her plans to address the rally at Naya Paltan as police and paramilitary troops threw a seemingly impenetrable ring around her house alongside the central party office.
In a video message from her residence, Zia on Friday night asked people to rally in front of BNP's central Naya Paltan office from across the country today, defying the ban, prompting the ruling Awami League to issue directives to their supporters to resist the opposition protesters with sticks.
