The 60-hour nationwide hartal, enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance, ended at 6pm on Wednesday amid clashes, vandalism, arson and crude bomb blasts across the country, leaving two people dead.
On the first day, a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activist, Nasiruddin, 22, son of Mintu Mia of Sahebdanga, was shot dead during a clash with police and Awami League workers in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat while Mohammad Zakir, 30, commercial manager of ‘C&F Garment’ and son of Ali Hossain of Dampara under Khulshi Police Station of Chittagong, killed as a human-hauler overturned after being chased by pickets in Chandgaon area.
According to reports reaching the UNB news desk, at least 100 vehicles were damaged, over 400 crude bombs blasted and over 500 people, including 20 cops, injured across the country during the 60-hour hartal. The law enforcers also arrested over 200 people during the hartal hours.
In the capital on Wednesday, pickets blasted over 30 crude bombs at different parts of the capital.
Incidents of crude bomb blasts, vehicle damaging and police dispersions were reported from different parts of capital Dhaka, including Tejgaon, Khilkhet, Demra, Tikatuli, Jatrabari and Jurain, although members of police and other law-enforcing agencies, were deployed in large numbers on the streets.
The 18-party alliance enforced the shutdown at 6am on Monday to push for its demand for arranging the next general election under a non-party administration.
Educational institutions and most shopping malls remained closed, but government and non-government offices in the capital were open with thin attendance.
Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws dominated the city streets during the hartal hours as there was a little number of motorised vehicles available for the city commuters. No long-route bus left Mohakhali, Saydabad and Gabtoli terminals since morning fearing vandalism.
Huge law enforcers guarded the city streets to avoid any untoward incident.
A large number of law enforcers were deployed in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
Violent incidents like vandalising and torching of vehicles, clashes between hartal pickets and police and ruling party activists, arrest of opposition leaders and activists and crude bomb blasts were also reported from a number of districts, including Shariatpur, Laxmipur, Panchagarh, Rajshahi, Bogra, Chittagong, Satkhira, Sylhet, Narayanganj, Dinajpur, Chandpur, Pirojpur, Bagerhat and Tangail.
The first and second day of the hartal were also marked by incidents of violent clashes, vandalism and crude bomb blasts across the country.
All types of media and fire brigade vehicles, ambulances and vehicles carrying hajj pilgrims were out of the purview of the hartal.
Earlier, the opposition alliance enforced another 60-hour countrywide shutdown from 6am on October 27 that ended amid widespread violent clashes, vandalism, arson attacks and crude bomb blasts, leaving 18 people dead and over 7,000 people injured across the country.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office about the hartal, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that a Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Abdus Samad, was killed in Satkhira by the ruling party cadres during the last day of the 60-hour hartal.
Besides, he said, police arrested over 560 opposition activists across the country during the hartal hours, while more than 2,081 were injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres’.
The BNP leader further claimed that over 26,100 opposition men were implicated in fresh ‘false’ cases and 34 activists sentenced to different terms of jail by mobile courts.
He also said four opposition leaders and activist were killed and 6,071 injured by law enforcers and ruling party men since November 3.
Source: UNB Connect