Bangladesh police have arrested nearly 8,000 opposition figures in a nationwide crackdown since officers broke up a major rally in the capital a week ago, a report said Sunday. The sweeping wave of detentions comes ahead of a general election due in January.
The country's major opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and its allies have been staging giant rallies in recent months demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down and allow a neutral government to supervise the vote. Hasina has overseen impressive growth in her 15 years of power, but she has been accused of ruling the South Asian nation with an iron fist.
The United States has imposed sanctions on some of its most senior police figures for widespread human rights violations.
More than 100,000 opposition supporters joined a "grand rally" in central Dhaka last Saturday, when a policeman was killed in clashes. Since then, police have launched a widespread crackdown on the BNP, arresting thousands of activists and accusing at least 162 of its top leaders of murdering the officer.
The country's best-read and most respected newspaper Prothom Alo reported Sunday that at least 7,835 people had been held, based on reports from its correspondents across the country.
The resurgent opposition has been mounting protests against Hasina since September last year, despite its ailing chairperson Khaleda Zia being effectively under house arrest since her release from prison after a conviction on corruption charges. Her security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds in extrajudicial encounters, and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.
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