Mass arrests ahead of Bangladesh opposition strike
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The Bangladesh's main opposition party said on Monday that the police have arrested more than 1,000 opposition officials and supporters as part of a nationwide crackdown ahead of a planned protest strike.
"Over the past four days, the police have arrested 1,100 of our supporters and used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up our rallies," Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
The police sources confirmed they had broken up BNP rallies, but said this was only after the crowds became violent.
Home minister Shamsul Haq Tuku denied any campaign of mass arrests but told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday that "police were detaining those who have been accused in specific cases".
The BNP has called Tuesday's strike — the second in two weeks — to protest at what it calls the "forced eviction" of its leader Khaleda Zia from an exclusive state-owned home.
On November 13, the police entered Ms Zia's house in Dhaka's private residential cantonment area, forcing the 65-year-old widow of former military dictator Ziaur Rahman to flee.
Ms Zia had lived in the home for nearly four decades, but a string of court orders, culminating in a Supreme Court verdict Monday, ruled her possession of the property was illegal.
"The Supreme Court has dismissed Ms Zia's appeal," attorney general Mahbubey Alam told AFP on Monday, adding that this mean Ms Zia had to give up the property and had no further avenues of appeal.
During her time as Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006, Ms Zia cancelled a long-term lease on the state property that current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina lived in.
Analysts say the highly charged events of the past couple of weeks could mark the start of a new round of confrontational politics, often played out in street violence, that has in the past hit Bangladesh's booming economy hard.
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