Two people were killed and nearly 200 injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday as opposition parties enforced a countrywide transport shutdown, police and witnesses said. A policeman was killed after being pelted with stones and hit by stick-wielding activists in Sonargaon, 30 km (18 miles) from Dhaka.
A 45-year-old man was killed in the capital and 100 people were hurt. The opposition Awami League said the man had been hit by a rubber bullet but police said he was killed in a stampede.
Police and pro-government activists fought rock-throwing opposition workers and supporters. Police used batons, tear gas and rubber bullets, witnesses said. Fifty activists were held.
Opposition parties called for a nation-wide strike on Tuesday to protest the violence.
More than 80 people were injured in other clashes around Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries with a population of 140 million.
A 14-party alliance led by Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister, had called the transport shutdown to try to force the government to implement electoral reforms before a general election due next January.
The opposition wants chief election commissioner M.A. Aziz removed for alleged pro-government bias, and a say in choosing a caretaker administration to supervise the polls.
Sunday is a working day in the Muslim-majority state, and the shutdown stranded millions of commuters. Witnesses said most trains, buses, ferries and other transport were idle as hundreds of opposition supporters and workers blockaded terminals.
Dozens of vehicles and a train were damaged as drivers tried to defy the blockade, witnesses said.
The Awami League said police provoked violence by using force to break the "peaceful" blockade.
The shutdown ended at 3 pm (0900 GMT).
"The shutdown was total and demonstrated growing public support for our anti-government campaign," said Tofayel Ahmed, a senior Awami leader.
Authorities deployed more than 8,000 extra police and paramilitary troops in the capital, and more in other cities, to try to avert trouble.
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