Dhaka, September 12 :

Riot police used tear gas and batons today to battle thousands of protesters trying to march into the prime minister’s office to demand electoral reforms, witnesses said.

Dozens of people were injured in the clashes in Dhaka’s Bangla Motor and Mahakhali districts blocks away from the prime minister’s office, according to Associated Press reporters at the scenes.

The violence erupted as more than 6,000 stone-throwing opposition activists tried to overrun barbed-wire barricades in a bid to march into Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s well-guarded office in central Dhaka.

At least three home-made bombs — tin pots filled with explosives — went off at Mahakhali before police fired tear gas shells, said a reporter at the scene.

Security officers declined to comment on the violence.

Authorities deployed 10,000 police around the prime minister’s office after an alliance of 14 opposition parties vowed to defy a ban on demonstrations and march into the building to press for electoral reforms.

The security forces manned barbed-wire barricades erected to prevent the protesters from going anywhere close to their target.

Streets in the area were closed to public vehicles, causing huge traffic snarls in the city of 10 million people. “This fascist government is using police to attack peaceful demonstrators,” opposition spokesman Tofail Ahmed said. “What we have been demanding is good for democracy.”

Police imposed a ban on rallies and marches around Zia’s office in the capital after the opposition alliance announced plans for Tuesday’s protest.

Zia was scheduled to visit the southeastern port city of Chittagong today, her office said.

The opposition alliance, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, wants to change the election commission, which it says is biased toward Zia’s ruling Bangladesh National Party.