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Bangladesh police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of opposition supporters trying to march towards the prime minister's office in the capital Dhaka, police said.

Police erected barricades covered in barbed wire to prevent several mass processions from different parts of the city from converging outside the premier's office Wednesday.


Violence, however, broke out at several points when opposition supporters broke through the barriers and pelted police with stones and bricks, deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Mazharul Haq told AFP.

"They became unruly. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them. Things are now under control," Haq added.

Hospital emergency department staff said they had not treated any injured protesters.


Some 12,000 soldiers and police have been drafted in to the capital to thwart the mass demonstration by a 14-party opposition alliance including the main opposition Awami League.

Police earlier slapped a ban on the holding of all rallies, demonstrations and processions within a large area of the city.

The opposition alliance is demanding reform of the electoral system.



At a rally on Tuesday, the opposition leaders vowed to break the ban to press their "legitimate" demands for election reforms, including removal of the chief election commissioner and his two deputies whom they accuse of being pro-government.

The alliance also wants the head of any future caretaker government to be appointed with the agreement of both main political parties -- the Awami League and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Under the current system the government hands over to a caretaker government, which it has selected, at the end of its term. The next caretaker government is due to take over in October with elections scheduled for January 2007.


Zia heads a four-party Islamic-allied coalition government with a large parliamentary majority. It has held power since 2001 when it ousted an Awami League administration led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed.