Protesters take to the streets to boycott Bangladesh election
Protesters take to the streets to boycott Bangladesh election

Protesters take to the streets of Dhaka to boycott Sunday's election, which is guaranteed to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a fifth term in office.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests, called for a general strike and urged the public not to participate in what it called a "sham" election.

Some 25,000 opposition cadres including the BNP's entire local leadership have been arrested since October.

The government puts the figure at 11,000.