One killed, hundreds arrested as Bangladesh police clamp down on opposition rally

At least one person died and scores were injured in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at opposition supporters before arresting hundreds, witnesses and police said.

Tension has been building this week after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called a massive rally to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.

Opposition spokesman said police fired at around 5,000 opposition supporters who peacefully gathered outside the BNP main office in central Dhaka.

"We allowed traffic to move. But police suddenly attacked us, firing at our activists and supporters. At least 100 people were injured," Annie said.

The BNP said at least two of their activists, including a student leader, were killed by police fire.

Current BNP chief Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said "police arrested at least 500 activists from inside the party headquarters".

"This is a breach of human rights and the constitution," he told reporters.

The activists chanted slogans against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while being driven away in prison vans: "It will fall! God willing the Hasina regime will fall".

The clashes came after BNP officials expressed fears that the police would trigger violence to scuttle Saturday's rally, which the party expects will draw hundreds of thousands of people.