Bangladesh opposition protests demand PM's resignation

Huge crowds swarmed the streets of Bangladesh's capital to demand Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and fresh elections, with public anger mounting over rising food and fuel costs.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and other opposition allies staged rallies in Dhaka and nine other cities -- the latest of several demonstrations in recent months that have occasionally been quelled by police violence.

"The time to cling to power by force is over," senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas said at a sit-in outside party headquarters in the capital. "Let a neutral government hold an election."

"Extremists are gathering in one place to topple us from power," she told supporters at a small gathering.

"Don't think that the party will fall down if it is shaken. Things are not that easy."

Police estimated up to 50,000 people were present in the crowd addressed by Abbas, who was released from prison a month after a sweeping crackdown on opposition activists.

But BNP officials said hundreds of thousands had turned up in Dhaka alone, with thousands of others joining sister rallies around the country.

Bangladesh is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, but rising global food and fuel costs linked to the war in Ukraine forced Hasina's government last year to impose lengthy power cuts and expand food handouts to the poor.

The Bangladeshi taka has depreciated by up to 25 percent, driving up the cost of food imports and making life harder for the country's poorest citizens.