Bangladesh opposition sees hope in protests

DHAKA, May 7 (Reuters) A series of violent protests against water and electricity shortages has given Bangladesh's opposition new hope that they can unsettle the government.

The opposition has tried for years to unseat the government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia by calling for national strikes and protests, but none have done more than cause inconvenience.

Analysts say they have failed because they failed to win popular support. Now they see an opportunity to capitalise on what many are calling ''people's protests''.

''The latest protests manifested a people's no-confidence in the government of Begum Zia and signalled the beginning of a mass upsurge against it,'' opposition leader Sheikh Hasina said late yesterday.

More than 100 people were injured in clashes with police on Friday while demanding supplies of drinking water and electricity.

The battle started after police tried to drive off thousands of protesters blocking a highway linking the capital Dhaka with the port city of Chittagong.

The protesters dispersed after the army arrived with water tankers and supplied bucketfuls of clean water which residents said was the first drinkable supply in three months.

At least 20 people, mostly farmers, have been killed by police in the country's northwest while demonstrating for water, power and diesel.

Such public anger, which the government says is fuelled by the opposition parties, came to the fore after the government finally tamed an Islamist militancy that had rocked the mainly Muslim Bangladesh since August last year.

But political analysts and many Bangladeshis feel the government's success in reining the militants has been overshadowed by its failure to tackle a number of sensitive public issues, such as soaring prices and nagging shortages.

''We are trying to improve supplies but don't have a magic solution,'' said Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, the minister in charge of electricity.

Reuters SY GC1239