Bangladesh’s main opposition figure detained amid protests

Dhaka: Bangladesh police on Sunday arrested Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from the country’s main opposition party as a nationwide strike began.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Habibur Rahman said Alamgir had been “detained for interrogation.”

Rahman told the AFP news agency that Alamgir would be questioned over Saturday’s violence, in which a police officer and a protester were killed and at least 26 police ambulances were torched or damaged. Alamgir has not been charged with anything.

The 75-year-old is the general secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He was picked up from his residence in capital city, Dhaka, opposition party official Shairul Kabir said.

The BNP announced a nationwide general strike on Sunday after calling off a mass demonstration against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Violent clashes broke out during protests on Saturday, with more than 100,000 opposition supporters gathering in the capital.

Protesters clashed with police in at least three places outside Dhaka as the strike began on Sunday, private broadcaster Channel 24 reported. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse people in Comilla, Sylhet and Bogra districts.

The BNP and its allies have been calling for Hasina’s resignation. They want a power to be transferred to a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee upcoming general elections.

Alamgir has led the party since the arrest and imprisonment of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Hasina, who is the daughter of the country’s founding leader, has been in power for 15 years. Her administration is accused of detaining opposition figures and killing activists in extrajudicial encounters.