STRIKE SITREP

UNCLAS DHAKA 000514

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL BG
SUBJECT: STRIKE SITREP



1. (SBU) After a day's pause, the Awami League renewed its
hartal (strike) program with a dawn-to-dusk hartal on
February 3. With a comparatively heavier police presence,
observers as of 1600 local report slightly more rickshaws and
motor vehicles on Dhaka streets compared to the previous
program but that nearly all of Dhaka's shops are closed.


2. (SBU) By mid morning, one car had been burnt and several
AL women protesters had been arrested, but there have been
few large AL street demonstrations and no injuries reported.
As of 1300 local, the only fatality was a police officer who
suffered an apparent heart attack when he aided the
extinguishing of the car fire.


3. (SBU) Awami League Member of Parliament Muhammad Faruk
Khan told us that the hartal was widely observed and
therefore a "success." Reports from around the country are
mixed, with the hartal widely observed in the AL stronghold
of Bandarban, located in east Bangladesh, but loosely
observed elsewhere.


4. (SBU) The Awami League plans a 36 hour hartal from dawn
February 5 to dusk February 6. Their leftist partners, who
had announced previously they would not participate out of
respect for SAARC, have not yet announced whether they will
now participate but have said they would hold public
demonstrations in support.
THOMAS