Bangladesh opposition holds big protest march

DHAKA, July 25 (Reuters) Thousands of opposition activists today marched to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka from its outskirts as authorities used armed police and sniffer dogs to prevent any violence or attacks by Islamic militants.

The march ended peacefully, witnesses said.

It was the first of six such marches planned by a 14-party opposition alliance, headed by the Awami League party, to force the government to implement electoral reforms.

The marchers chanted slogans calling on Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia to accept the opposition demands or step down.

Nearly 4,000 extra police and troops imposed tight security in Dhaka ahead of the march and at least 1,000 people were detained in a countrywide crackdown.

The opposition alliance said said it would boycott parliamentary elections, due next January, unless chief election commissioner MA Aziz, whom they accuse of pro-government bias, steps down. They also want a say in choosing the chief of a caretaker administration that would supervise the election.

''People will not accept and will not allow any election to be held in the country without electoral reform,'' Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil told the marchers.

The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said such protests would not help the opposition in any way.

''Opposition is going to get nothing by staging street protests, they must hold talks with the ruling parties over the reform proposals,'' said BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan.

Mofazzal Hossain Maya, Dhaka city chief of the Awami League, said some 500 people were detained by police in the capital over the last two days, and a similar number were held outside the capital.

Police confirmed ''many arrests'' but gave no number.

However, hundreds of activists were taken in prison vans from city police stations to courts on Monday, witnesses said.

Police launched the crackdown after the State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutufuzzaman Babar, told reporters at the weekend that ''extremists might try to launch fresh attacks'' using the opposition marches as a pretext.

Islamist militants launched a series of bomb attacks across the country between August and December last year, killing at least 30 people and wounding 150.

REUTERS PKS KP1945