Bangladesh opposition protest draws 100,000

More than 100,000 opposition supporters gathered in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on Monday to demand the government step down and hold elections, police said. The biggest opposition demonstration since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) suffered a landslide defeat in 2008 polls was largely peaceful as thousands of armed troops patrolled the city. Local media reported that supporters from the ruling Awami League attacked one group of protesters with sticks, but there were no serious injuries. A small blast also exploded a mile (1.5 kilometres) from the protest site. "There were more than 100,000 supporters at the rally. They spilt into roads and open spaces near the venue," a senior police officer who declined to be named told AFP. BNP organisers, who claimed the attendance figure was far higher, said anger was focused on the government's decision last year to scrap a neutral caretaker system for overseeing elections. Opposition groups reported that thousands of activists were detained in the days ahead of the protest, but police denied any organised crackdown. "These are regular arrests nothing to do with the opposition grand rally," deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Monirul Islam told AFP. Islam said at least 15,000 policemen and border guards were deployed in Dhaka to prevent violence. Bangladesh politics have often erupted into clashes, with the last serious outbreak of street fighting between rival party activists in 2006 when several people were killed. Two private television channels covering Monday's event were taken off air by cable operators "at the order of a government agency," Mostofa Firoz, head of news of Banglavision, one of the stations affected, told AFP. Bus and ferry services to the city were also suspended, making it hard for opposition supporters to travel from rural areas. Bangladesh's next national election is due to be held by early 2014.