For the second time this month, Bangladesh was hit Sunday by a general strike that closed shops and businesses and interfered with transportation.

The 36-hour work stoppage was called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its Islamic ally, Jamaat-e-Islami. They are protesting a proposed amendment to the nation's constitution that they say favors the incumbent government.

Clashes between police and strikers were reported in Dhaka, the capital, and several arrests were reported. The strike also was felt in the port city of Chittagong, the country's second largest.

The change in the constitution proposed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the ruling Awami League would scrap a system in which a nonpartisan caretaker government rules Bangladesh for three-months during an election period.