The main Bangladesh opposition party, the Awami league, called on Monday for more strikes later this week in its anti-government campaign as the country emerged from a three-day nation-wide stoppage. The strike, backed by several smaller opposition parties, drove most transport off Dhaka's usually teeming streets, closed shops, schools and stock exchanges and disrupted activity at the country's main port in Chittagong.
Clashes between police and strikers over the three days injured more than 200 people and damaged about 40 vehicles, police and witnesses said.
"We are calling for more strikes next Thursday, Saturday and Sunday in our continuing effort to force the government to step down," Awami chief Sheikh Hasina told a news conference.
She thanked supporters for making the latest strike a success. "I hope they will make the next strike even more successful," Hasina said.
The planned strikes would partly coincide with a meeting of South Asian leaders in Dhaka on Sunday and Monday.
The summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), delayed by about a month after the December 26 tsunami hit several member countries, is due to end on February 7.
Foreign ministers of SAARC are to meet on Saturday. Friday is the weekend in mainly Muslim Bangladesh.
No comment was immediately available from the government on the Awami call, supported by several smaller opposition parties.
The Awami League called last week's strike - a common form of protest in Bangladesh - after a grenade attack at a party rally in the north-east on Thursday.
The attack, the latest in a series to rock the country over the last year, killed senior Awami leader Shah Abu Mohammad Shamsul Kibria, 73, a former finance minister, UN official and diplomat. Kibria's nephew was among four others killed.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia condemned the attack and vowed to bring Kibria's killers to justice. The government has formed a commission and sought help from the FBI and Interpol.
But Awami chief Sheikh Hasina, who herself narrowly escaped injury in a grenade attack at a rally in Dhaka last August, said she did not believe the government.
Kibria's family said in a statement on Sunday they did not believe an investigation with government participation would be fair.
"Unless it is a truly independent probe only by international agencies it is likely to end up in a whitewash," the family said.
Political analysts said the opposition's activities were unlikely to disrupt Khaleda's rule because her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) remains popular.
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