Over 100 injured in BD poll campaign violence

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s election campaign turned violent on Tuesday with scores injured at political rallies across the country, as police fired pellet guns into crowds and stick-wielding mobs attacked rival candidates.

Police told AFP clashes broke out in at least seven major towns on just the second day of campaigning, injuring nearly 100 people who turned out to cheer the two major parties contesting the December 30 poll.

The unrest follows a crackdown on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in recent weeks, with hundreds of supporters from the main opposition movement thrown behind bars before campaigning had even begun.

In Thakurgaon, a northern district, a motorcade for the BNP’s secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was set upon by a huge crowd swinging batons.

Local police chief Mohammad Moniruzzaman said the windows of several cars were smashed, but Alamgir escaped unscathed.