A lawyer’s car on fire in Dhaka on Thursday. (AP)

Dhaka, Nov. 30 (Reuters): Thousands of political activists surrounded the presidential palace in the Bangladeshi capital today, demanding the President quit his post as caretaker ruler for failing to remove controversial election officials.

The protest in Dhaka by a 14-party alliance led by the Awami League was the latest in the run-up to parliamentary elections, which the alliance has threatened to disrupt if key election commission officials it accuses of bias are not removed. Witnesses said around 40,000 protesters and curious Dhaka residents who crammed into the area around the palace through the day had dispersed peacefully by sunset.

Nearly 5,000 police and paramilitary troops guarded streets around the palace, preventing protesters from moving closer.

After weeks of protests, Awami League supporters turned their ire against President Iajuddin Ahmed, saying he had failed to act impartially.

“The President must step down as chief of the caretaker government as his actions are designed to appease Khaleda Zia and not to ensure a free election,” said Mufazzal Hossain Maya, chief of the Dhaka unit of Awami League.

Begum Khaleda Zia ended her five-year term as Prime Minister in October and Iajuddin took over as head of a caretaker administration charged with organising the elections.

The Awami League accuses election officials of trying to rig voter lists to help Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the January 21 election. Abdur Rashid Sarkar, secretary of the election commission, dismissed the charges as baseless.