Hundreds of demonstrators blocked streets and train tracks today, halting most traffic in the capital to press their demands for President Hussain Muhammad Ershad to resign. Stores and offices closed, apparently out of fear of attacks, when what was intended to be a blockade of transport turned into a general strike. Groups of about 50 demonstrators staged sit-down strikes at about two dozen rail and road intersections in and around Dhaka, a city of 7 million people. Many people walked to work. Even bicycle-powered rickshaws, Dhaka's chief mode of transport, stayed off the streets. Protesters paraded through the streets shouting ``Down with Ershad!'' and ``Days of Autocracy Are Over!'' United News of Bangladesh said 4,000 police and paramilitary troops were deployed in Dhaka. There were no reports of violence by midday. The blockade was the latest tactic in the campaign by opposition parties to force Ershad to quit. At least eight people have been killed by police since the current round of protests started Oct. 10. ``We are happy to see that the blockade has turned into a hartal (general strike). This shows popular support for our cause,'' said Suranjit Sengupta, a top leader of the Democratic Party. It is one of eight parties in an alliance headed by the Awami League led by Sheik Hasina, one of the country's main opposition politicians. Ershad has dismissed the campaign against him as ``the work of a handful of violence-mongers who are out to destabilize Bangladesh.'' He was an army general when he seized power in a bloodless coup in 1982. He later resigned from the military and was elected president in 1986 in balloting that opposition parties, foreign diplomats and journalists said was rigged. He plans to seek another five-year term in elections scheduled for next year. The opposition parties say they will boycott the vote unless Ershad resigns and hands over power to a caretaker government.
The birthplace of Terry Anderson marked the hostage's 43rd birthday Saturday with a flag raising, a gun salute and two renditions of "Happy Birthday." About 40 people, including 12 of Anderson's cousins turned out at City Hall for the gun salute and flag ceremony, then walked to a park to join 500 others. Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, was abducted by Muslim extremists in Beirut on March 6, 1985. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos:Photos: Anderson was born in Lorain, Ohio, and grew up in Batavia, N.Y., where supporters decided against cake and signing to mark his birthday because of the crisis in the Persian Gulf.