The first 14 hours of the 60-hour countrywide shutdown, enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance on Monday, was marked by incidents of violent clashes, vandalism and crude bomb blasts allover the country, leaving two people killed.
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 40 vehicles were damaged, over 200 crude bombs blasted and around 150 people, including 20 cops, were injured across the country. The law enforcers also arrested over a 100 people during the hartal hours as of 8pm.
Incidents of crude bomb blasts, vehicle damaging and police dispersions were reported from different parts of capital Dhaka, although members of police and other law-enforcing agencies remain deployed in large numbers on the streets.
In the capital, there were incidents of chases and counter-chases between police and hartal supporters at different parts of the city’, including Mirpur, Dholaipar, Jatrabari, Sayedabad, Moghbazar, Panthapath, Bijoy Sarani, Tejgaon, Badda, Gabtoli, Sobhanbagh, Nakahalpara, Azimpur, Kafrul and Bangsal.
Besides, the hartal pickets blasted over 50 crude bombs at different parts of the capital during the first day hartal that began at 6am on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman told UNB that 21 people were arrested for their involvement in hartal violence and 10 of them were sentenced to different jail terms.
Meanwhile, unidentified miscreants exploded two crude bombs at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka while another two were recovered from the Dhaka’s Judge Court Bhaban during the hartal.
Educational institutions and most shopping malls remained closed, but government and non-government offices in the capital were open with thin attendance.
City commuters largely used rickshaws and auto-rickshaws as a few number of motorised vehicles plied the streets. No long-route bus left Mohakhali, Saydabad and Gabtoli terminals since morning fearing vandalism.
The shutdown caused immense sufferings to people, mainly the commuters, in the capital for lack of transports.
The normal life of the day-labourers and low-income people is also being seriously affected as they had to pass their days amid unbearable hardship for lack of work.
Huge law enforcers have been guarding the city streets since the early morning to fend off any untoward incident.
A large number of law enforcers were deployed in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
Vandalising of vehicles, clashes between hartal pickets and police and ruling party men and arrest of opposition activists, explosion of crude bombs were also reported from different districts, including from Patuakhali, Laxmipur, Gazipur, Bogra, Meherpur, Chittagong, Brahmanbaria, Narayanganj, Lalmonirhat, Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Faridpur, Comilla, Jhalakati, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Pirojpur, Sylhet, Rangpur, Comilla and Feni.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office about the first-day of hartal, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that two opposition men were killed in firings and attacks by the law enforcers and ruling party cadres since Sunday evening to 4pm on Monday.
Besides, he said, police arrested over 500 opposition activists across the country during the hartal hours, while more than 1,800 were injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres’.
Over 8,000 opposition men were implicated in fresh ‘false’ cases and four activists sentenced to different jail terms by mobile courts, he further claimed.
The BNP-led opposition alliance enforced the general strike at 6am on Monday to force the government for arranging the next polls under a non-partisan administration.
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.
Source: UNB Connect
RODENT FACED BOLOD (OX) BADOL OF JSD INSULTED BEGUM KHALEDA ZIA WHOM THE ELECTORATES ELECTED TWICE AS THE PRIME MINISTER. BY SO DOING HE HURLED AN COLLECTIVE INSULT TO MILLIONS OF THOSE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY. Is this the language politician of the party of “SCIENTIFIC SOCIALISM” should use? This says, above all, what background these people came from, how they were reared up and what has been their family status & root. One cannot expect coconut to grow on a Palm tree. Where was the “MANONIO” speaker who could not show even moral courage to calm and tame this goon down to preserve the dignity of “SHUMOHAN/SACRED/DIVINE” Parliament? What wonder the “THE GREATEST BENGALI OF ALL TIME” had to mow down 34,000 of them.