Police and and a few people , allegedly belonging to the ruling party in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, have prevented former President Badruddoza Chowdhury from holding a rally at which he was expected to launch a new political party.
About 100 unidentified attackers pelted the 72-year-old Mr. Chowdhury with stones as he spoke on Thursday to several hundred supporters while walking along a major thoroughfare in Dhaka on his way to the rally site.
Witnesses say Mr. Chowdhury was chased by the mob and at one point fell to the ground before police intervened and escorted him from the scene. He was not hurt in the fall.
Speaking later on Reuters television, he described what he called " a very undemocratic attitude" on the part of the Bangladesh government.
Mr. Chowdhury resigned his largely-ceremonial post last year, over policy differences with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party. His son, Mahi, was one of two lawmakers who quit the B-N-P Wednesday to join the new party. The other was retired army Major Abdul Mannan.