BANGLADESH'S POLITICAL BOULEVARD

UNREST usually breaks out during general elections in Bangladesh, where politics has for more than two decades been dominated by rivalry between two women leaders - with one being Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister.

Bangladesh police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at opposition party supporters in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday as tensions soared  weeks before a general election.

Activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party set fire to police vans, cars and motorbikes,  according to police and media.

''Our force was attacked without any reason. They were only trying to ease the traffic flow but suddenly they were targeted ,'' said Masudur Rahman, a spokesman for the Dhaka Metropolitan police.

The BNP supporters had been accompanying an election candidate who was picking up election nomination papers from the party's offices in the city.

Police initially asked the group of more than 500 people to disperse because because they were creating a traffic jam but an altercation ensued and fistfights broke out. [Reuters]