60-Hour Strike in Bangladesh Turns Violent, 14 Killed

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STR / AFP / Getty Images

Bangladeshi villagers look at a motorbike set alight during a nationwide strike called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in Ishurdi, some 200 km from the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Oct. 27, 2013

Fourteen people have died in political clashes in Bangladesh since Friday as a three-day shutdown called by opposition parties turned violent. More than 30 people were injured in clashes on Tuesday, the last day of the general strike.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, along with 18 other opposition parties, called the 60-hour strike to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheik Hasina and the installation of a caretaker government to oversee upcoming general elections in January 2014.

Schools and businesses remained closed across the country on Tuesday. Protesters threw crude bombs and torched buses and vehicles. Extra police and paramilitary forces were deployed on the streets where opposition supporters clashed with supporters of the ruling Awami League.