Bangladesh opposition chief defiant despite siege

DHAKA - Bangladesh's besieged opposition leader accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday of trying to cling on to power by force, as police clamped down on protests on the first anniversary of Hasina's re-election.

Riot police are confining Khaleda Zia, firebrand leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to her office to stop her leading rallies in protest at alleged vote-rigging a year ago.

"Not only am I prisoner, but the whole of the country is being held captive. What kind of country are we living in?" said Zia.

At least four people were killed in clashes between followers of Zia's BNP, police and the ruling Awami League, highlighting the prevailing instability in a country that has seen around a dozen coups in its short history.

The two women, who have ruled Bangladesh for most of the last three decades, are bitter rivals. Their enmity flared up once again after Zia was confined to her office over the weekend.

The siege intensified on Monday as security forces parked a convoy of trucks laden with sand and bricks outside the office compound. They then padlocked the gates to prevent Zia from leading protests designed to force fresh elections.

When dozens of her supporters tried to break the siege, riot police fired pepper spray at them. Television footage showed BNP members wiping away tears after they tried to prise open the compound gates.

Zia could be seen sitting in her car, with the engine revving. She later spoke to journalists who managed to sneak over the wall.

"This government is illegal because it was not elected by the people. They sprayed pepper at us. It is not a normal situation. Is the country facing a war?" said the two-time former prime minister, calling the government "illegal" and urging people to join protests.

"They want to hang on to power people by bullets, tear gas and bombs." "The protests will continue... No dictator can cling onto power like this," she added despite her apparent failure to break the blockade of the compound in Dhaka's upmarket Ghulshan district.

Zia's confinement evoked memories of voting day on January 5, 2014, when she was prevented by riot police from leaving the compound.

The BNP was one of 20 opposition parties which boycotted last year's election, claiming that the outcome would be rigged.

Hasina, in power since 2009, had refused to step down before the election so the poll could be organised by a neutral caretaker administration.

The boycott meant most members in the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.

Voting was overshadowed by firebomb attacks on polling booths and clashes which left around 25 people dead.

Twelve months on, there were similar scenes in cities and towns around the country.

Deadly clashes

Police in the northern district of Rajshahi fired live rounds at hundreds of protesters after they attacked them with firearms, petrol bombs and rocks, said local police chief Alamgir Kabir.

"One person was killed in the firing," he told AFP.

Two BNP activists were shot dead during clashes with supporters of Hasina's Awami League in another northern town, Natore, a local inspector said, adding at least 15 people were injured.

In the nearby town of Kansat another protester died of his wounds after clashes with police and border guards, police said.

In Dhaka hundreds of pro-opposition lawyers joined the protests at the sprawling complex which houses the supreme court, where they waved black flags to signal the death of democracy.

Police locked the gates into the main building, confining protesters to the grounds outside. Clashes also erupted at the national press club where the BNP's deputy leader spoke at a rally.

Some bus and ferry services heading to the capital were suspended at the weekend to stop protesters from reaching Dhaka.

Hasina, who has consistently rejected calls for fresh elections, was to deliver a televised address to the nation on Monday night.

The election day violence last year was the culmination of the bloodiest year of political unrest in Bangladesh's short history, with tensions also heightened by the death sentences passed on leading Islamists over their role in the 1971 independence war from Pakistan.

More than 500 people were killed in political violence in 2013.