20000131

Opposition strike paralyses Chittagong

CHITTAGONG: An opposition-led strike paralysed Bangladesh's main port of Chittagong on Sunday and port officials said they were bracing for worse to come as more stoppages are looming.

An opposition alliance led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia enforced Sunday's daylong strike over its demand for scrapping the city's mayoral election held on January 3.

The opposition parties boycotted the election.

The port was also paralysed last Wednesday when an Islamic Student group called staged a dawn-to-dusk stoppage in the city protesting against the arrest of more than 50 Islamic students in Chittagong University.

The latest strike suspended delivery of consignments from the port, disrupted cargo handling and restricted administrative works, port officials said. Sunday is a working day in Moslem Bangladesh.

"The strike has seriously hampered activities at the port. So far this year we have had suffered six days of stoppages at the port, which led to a serious ships' jam," said Mohsin Sarker, the port's traffic director.

Most of the 57 ships at berths and outer anchorage were idled, and over 3,000 trucks and lorries were stranded on Sunday as strikers picketed on the streets and hurled stones and home-made bombs at anyone trying to move out, witnesses said.

Authorities called in paramilitary soldiers to help police maintain law and order.

The port, which handles 80 percent of Bangladesh's exports and imports, will have two more days of strikes on February 2 and 3 when the opposition alliance aims to protest against a controversial law.

The law, expected to be approved in parliament on Sunday, is aimed at curbing growing lawlessness and damage to public property.-Reuters