Bangladesh faces more protests over shortages

DHAKA, Apr 12 (Reuters) Bangladeshis are increasingly taking their protests to the streets as shortages of basic commodities and the high price of utilities continue to hit their pockets.

Across the country, power is routinely cut for up to four hours a day, food prices have soared by 40 per cent and fuel -- particularly diesel -- is in short supply.

Today some 20,000 protesters faced off against nearly 2,000 police and paramilitary troops at Kanshat, the centre of popular discontent in Chapainawabganj district, one of the country's prime mango growing areas.

Police arrested 16 people, including three women, after raiding suspected protesters' homes at Kanshat last night, local officials said.

At least 10 people have been killed, nearly 100 injured and many more have fled their homes since January, when the protests began.

The situation was likely to worsen tomorrow when a 14-party opposition alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was expected to hold a rally there in support of farmers and villagers.

''We cannot keep silent and must stand by them at this hour of crisis,'' said Obaidul Kader, senior leader of Hasina's Awami League.

Local mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu, a leader of rulingBangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said the protests were fueled by the opposition hoping to make political gains.

Elsewhere in the country, including the capital Dhaka, hundreds of men and women have staged daily protests for weeks demanding better supplies of gas, water and electricity.

Prices of food including rice, fish, meat, sugar, vegetables, fruits and edible oil have risen by at least 40 percent over the past two months, with no visible government moves to contain them.

The protests and shortages could have a strong bearing on the parliamentary election Bangladesh is scheduled to have in January 2007, in which Hasina and current Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia will face off for a fourth time.

Their parties, the Awami League and BNP, have accused each other of trying to push the country into a bigger political chaos ahead of the polls.

A further crisis looms as differences between the ruling and opposition parties make hoped-for talks over electoral reforms almost unlikely.

Reuters SI RS1500