Stray incidents of violence marked the first day of the 36-hour countrywide hartal enforced by the BNP-led 18-party alliance on Wednesday.
The shutdown began at 6am on Wednesday and it will continue till 6pm tomorrow (Thursday).
A 42-year-old man, Hafizur Rahman, was killed as a bus, being chased by pickets, ploughed through four roadside teashops in Jessore on Wednesday.
Four vehicles were vandalised and 13 crude bombs exploded at different places of the capital during the hartal hours. Besides, separate mobile courts sentenced 10 people to different jail terms on Tuesday night and Wednesday on charges of vandalising and torching vehicles in the city.
Sources at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said two vehicles were vandalised and 28 people arrested in capital Dhaka.
Addressing a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the hartal was being observed across the country with the spontaneous participation of people.
He claimed that police arrested over 382 opposition activists across the country during the hartal hours on Wednesday, while more than 578 injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres’. ”Besides, some 1,000 BNP men were implicated in false cases and five others sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a mobile court.”
In the capital, educational institutions mostly remained closed while attendance in government and non-government offices was reported thin.
Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws dominated the city streets as the presence of motorised vehicles was less than usual days. Train services were, however, normal.
Many people were found waiting in distress at different city bus stops and whenever they saw a vehicle they simply scrambled to get into it.
Huge law enforcers were seen guarding the city streets to maintain the law and order.
Only a handful of pro-hartal activists were seen picketing on the city streets during the hartal hours.
Around 6am, hartal supporters vandalised four buses in front of Matuwail Hospital on the city outskirts. Three crude bombs were exploded in the area at that time.
Activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of BNP, brought out a procession in the city’s Laxmibazar area around 8am when pickets exploded 3-4 crude bombs there. Chased by police, the pickets disappeared.
Another group of JCD activists brought out a procession at Dholaipar at about 7am but police dispersed them.
Around 8am, JCD activists brought out a procession in Mitford Hospital area only to be dispersed by police.
JCD men exploded two crude bombs while bringing out a procession at Pallabi in Mirpur at about 6:30am.
Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student front of Jamaat-e-Islami, brought out a procession at Mirpur-12 around 6:30am. Police gave them a chase and foiled the procession.
Another group of JCD activists blasted two crude bombs in front of Mirpur Ideal School and College at about 6:50am.
Three crude bombs were exploded beside Narcotics Control Department office in Tejgaon at the same time.
Hartal supporters brought out a procession on Shaheed Faruk Road at Jatrabari and exploded two crackers. Later, police dispersed the procession by firing several rubber bullets.
JCD men blocked a road torching tyres at Basabo around 6:30am and fled the scene after being chased by police.
Five female MPs and Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, MP brought out a procession at Jatiya Sangsad South Plaza and staged demonstrations there at about 9:45am.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Wasa Sramik Union brought out an anti-hartal procession at Kawranbazar around 11:10 am.
According to reports reaching the UNB news desk from different districts, around 36 vehicles and five shops were vandalised while five vehicles torched and around 42 crude bombs exploded during the hartal hours.
Besides, 53 people were injured in clashes between hartal supporters and law enforcers, and road accidents happened due to picketing. Besides, at least 39 people arrested.
The districts are Sylhet, Chittagong, Chuadanga, Satkhira, Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi, Narayanganj, Natore, Gazipur, Gaibandha, Feni, Laxmipur, Joypurhat and Bogra.
The 18-party opposition alliance called the hartal demanding the release of its leaders and activists arrested from the BNP’s Nayaplatan central office on March 11.
The shutdown is also meant for mounting pressure on the government to restore the non-party caretaker government, forcing the “failed, incompetent and autocratic regime” to quit.
Source: UNB Connect
