BANGLADESH POLICE FIRE TEAR GAS TO SCATTER OPPOSITION PROTESTERS & MORE THEN 10000 SUPPORTER WERE DETAINED
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Tear gas is seen while police takes their
position in the street Dhaka, Bangladesh, February 8, 2018.
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Bangladesh police used tear gas on
Thursday to disperse thousands of opposition activists who took to the streets
of the capital ahead of the verdict in a graft case against a former prime
minister.
Protesters swarmed the roads, defying
a police ban on rallies, as opposition leader Khaleda Zia headed to the court,
set to deliver the verdict in a case about an orphanage trust set up when she
was last prime minister, from 2001 to 2006.
“Security has been ramped up in the
capital and elsewhere in the country to thwart any untoward incidents,” Dhaka
Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told reporters outside the court.
Virtually nothing is entering Dhaka city in a complete change of the usual scenario as law enforcers tighten security measures in a bid to prevent BNP men from gathering.
Virtually nothing is entering #Dhaka city in a complete change of the usual scenario as law enforcers tighten security measures in a bid to prevent #BNP men from gathering #Dhaka #Bangladesh #Verdict #KhaledaZia #ZiaOrphanageTrust https://t.co/BkxfNc0yxi— The Daily Star (@dailystarnews) February 8, 2018
Television broadcast images of motorcycles set on fire.
Earlier on Thursday, the normally clogged streets of Dhaka were almost bare, after authorities cut off bus and ferry services into the city and thousands of riot police spread out in anticipation of unrest.
Prosecutors have accused Khaleda, her son and aides of stealing 21 million taka ($253,000) in foreign donations received by the trust.
Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) say the charges are part of a plot to keep the leader and her family out of politics. Party leaders said more than 10,000 supporters were detained over the past few days.
She has convicted for 5 years Jail and her son TariqueRahman for 10 years jail in , which would keep her from running in parliamentary polls set for December.
Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) say the charges are part of a plot to keep the leader and her family out of politics. Party leaders said more than 10,000 supporters were detained over the past few days.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and
Khaleda, both related to former national leaders, have nursed a long and bitter
rivalry, and have dominated politics in Bangladesh for more than two decades.
The renewed tension between them
raises the specter of a long, destabilizing spell of unrest for Bangladesh and
its economy.
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