Over 300 people including policemen injured in the capital

Dhaka, Sep 28 (UNI) More than three hundred people were injured as one of the worst ordeals of power outages triggered rioting between protestors and law-enforcing agencies in capital Dhaka and its outskirts.

Witnesses and officials said outraged by on-again, off-again electricity supply since last night, crowds of people in different areas attacked power offices, barricaded roads, and damaged or set afire pickup vans of police and elite-force RAB during the frenzied protests.

Police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to drive away the violent demonstrators in uptown Mirpur, but the rampages continued late into the day today.

The power-supply situation aggravated with a 210-MW unit at Ghorashal power station having tripped Tuesday for 'technical faults' knocking the total power generation down 3,000 megawatts.

The known demand for power in the country is around 5,000 megawatts.

The ire of the residents took in an extra heat as the nagging power problem hit them in conjunction with double depressions formed over the Bay and the Andamans yesterday, making the hot and humid weather intolerable in civic life.

In Mirpur, the worst trouble spot, more than 200 people, mostly policemen, were injured when the cops went to prevent the power-hungry people from attacking Pallabi Power Complaint Centre but the desperate protestors launched attacks on them with sticks and brickbats.

Forty-one of the injured police were admitted to Rajarbagh Police Hospital. Several protestors with rubber bullet wounds were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

In Keraniganj, over 100 people including police and RAB personnel were injured as police locked in a fierce clash with the people attacking Rural Electrification Association office early today demanding uninterrupted power supply.

People in the area got agitated for being deprived of power supply for eleven hours from 1800 hrs to 0500 hrs in last two days.

Witnesses said angry protestors set fire to two pickup vans of police and RAB amid raging violence, leaving 15 police and RAB men injured.

The agitators ransacked local power supply office and burnt furniture and files of the office. About 60 vehicles were damaged and a police van was set afire during the clashes.

Witnesses said thousands of power hungry people took to Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in the morning demanding power and water supply. Agitated industrial workers put barricade on the rail track, snapping the train communications on the routes.

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