Police clash with pro-reform protesters, injured

Описание: (8 Jan 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of Awami League party leaders marching
2. Women members of Awami League party chanting
3. Various of police officers in stand-off with stone-throwing protesters, teargas
4. Various of police shooting tear gas and rubber bullets
5. Various close-ups of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets
6. Various of police officers in standoff
7. Low shot of police officers standing amongst thrown debris
8. Various of standoff, teargas
9. Wide of large group of police officers charging towards protesters
10. Low shot of police officers patrolling
11. Pan right of soldiers patrolling on truck
12. Police leading detained persons out of building towards waiting vehicle
13. Detainees filing past, answering reporters' questions
14. Detainees getting into police vehicle
15. SOUNDBITE (Bengali) Mother of detainee, Vox pop:
"I can put my hand on the holy Qu'ran and say that he (her son) is innocent and has never attended a political meeting in his life."
16. End shot of detainees getting into police vehicle
STORYLINE
Bangladeshi riot police used batons, tear gas and rubber bullets on Sunday to disperse thousands of stick-welding and stone-throwing protesters in the streets of the country's capital, Dhaka.
Schools and businesses were closed and transport was disrupted nationwide as a three-day transport blockade, imposed by a 19-party alliance, started on Sunday.
Protesters were demanding electoral reforms and a postponement of the January 22 electoral polls.
The alliance, led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, said it plans to keep blocking roads, railways and river routes on Monday and Tuesday to isolate Dhaka from the rest of the country in an effort to force its demands.
But the country's interim leader, President Iajuddin Ahmed, said he could not change the election date because it was mandated by the country's constitution.
About 12-thousand security forces patrolled Dhaka's streets amid fears of a repeat of the violence that has marred previous political protests, and has left at least 34 dead since October.
Impress TV showed pictures of protesters clashing with police bearing protective shields and batons and protesters being apprehended by police, as authorities battled to contain escalating violence.
Several people on both sides were said to have been hurt in the clashes.
A headline in a local paper said over 2-thousand people had been arrested ahead of the blockade, but that most detained people did not know why they had been arrested.
ATN television carried images of three young boys being detained by police.
Later on Sunday afternoon, Impress TV caught on camera police brutally kicking and beating one man, who lay limp on the ground after his ordeal.
The clashes took place on Bangabandhu Avenue near the headquarters of Hasina's Awami League party and spread to two other parts of the city, including the Dhanmondi and Shyamoli areas, the report stated.
About a dozen activists were injured in the Dhanmondi area while police charged with batons to disperse protesters who tried to snatch some of the demonstrators detained by police, a witness, told The Associated Press by telephone from the scene.
A statement from Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Saturday said all rallies and marches were banned in Dhaka as of Sunday.
But the alliance vowed to not only defy the ban on Sunday and Monday, but also threatened to continue the protest until the general election in January.
Hasina's alliance says it will boycott the poll and has threatened to disrupt it, saying the interim government in charge of overseeing the

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