The blockade started at 6am on Saturday and it will continue until 6am Tuesday.
Dhaka
The second day of the Opposition called 72-hour nationwide blockade was marred with violence in the capital. Blockade campaigners stopped a bus by exploding handmade bombs at the capital’s Nayabazaar and then set it on fire around 9am.
Police’s Additional Deputy Commissioner (Lalbagh) Abdus Salam said that the Gabtoli-bound bus was attacked at Malitola area.
Babul,22, the driver of the bus told that a few young men exploded eight to ten handmade bombs , forcing him to stop the vehicle. He was beaten up by the blockade supporters, who then set the bus on fire.
Fire service put out the fire.
More bombs exploded in the area, said ADC Salam.
Activists of BNP’s youth affiliate Juba Dal clashed with police at the city’s Mirpur locality.
Witnesses said the clash erupted around 7am at the kitchen market area of Mirpur-11 when police stopped a procession of the blockade campaigners. A few handmade bombs went off.
Police dispersed the opposition supporters by firing in the air.
Pallabi Police Station OC Zia-Uz-Zaman said three handmade bombs have been recovered from the spot.
Long-haul bus services were suspended on Saturday from Dhaka’s Sayedabad, Mohakhali and Gabtoli inter-district terminals. However, some short-distance buses left from Babubazaar and Postogola, said Police’s Assistant Commissioner (Demra) Minhajul Islam.
Tight security in the Dhaka streets on Sunday failed to assure transport operators who fear attacks by Opposition activists. Office-goers were suffering due to a paucity of public transport. But four-wheelers, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws were on the roads.
Launch services from Dhaka were also much less in the morning, because passengers were fewer. BIWTC Traffic Inspector Md Solaiman said that around 28 water transports, mostly from the Southern districts, remained anchored in Dhaka in the morning. Only 3 launches left the capital since 9am, he said.
Besides, activists of Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, blasted 13 cocktails and locked into clashes with law enforcers in city’s Khilgaon and Khilkhet areas between 7:50 am and 8:00am Sunday.
1st day’s blockade violence.
Narayanganj
At least five people were injured when the blockaders set fire to a passenger bus after spreading gun powder at IET school intersection of Hajiganj in the city on Sunday morning.
Sources said the activists of district unit Chhatra Dal led by its Convener Monirul Islam Sajol and Joint-Convener Shahed barricaded the Narayanganj-Adamji-Demra highway.
They also vandalised several vehicles and a police box and set ablaze it.
Besides, the Shibir activists set fire to a passenger bus of Adamji EPZ after spreading gun powder on it at Sidhirganj in the city, leaving 5 garments workers injured. The blockaders brought out rallies, exploded crude bombs and set fire in different areas in the city on the 2nd day of the 72–hour rail-road-waterway blockade.
Additional law enforcers were deployed in different areas in the city to avert untoward situation.
Blockaders torched three pick-up van at Jatra Intersection in Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj around 3:30am. The vehicles were parked in the area, fire service sources said.
Gazipur
In Gazipur, 15 crude bombs were blasted at bus stand area in the city and blockade supporters brought out processions in different areas of the city.
Rajshahi
At least 12 people were injured when five bogies of a passenger train derailed as the blockaders removed the fishplates of the rail tracks in Sholua area near Sharda rail station in Charghat upazila early Sunday.
Kishoreganj
Pro-blockade activists torched a truck at Bajitpur of Kishoreganj around 4:15am.
Background
Six people died in blockade related incidents in different parts of the country on Saturday, the first day of the Opposition called 72-hour. Six people including an activist of Chhatra Shibir, an activist of Jubo Dal and three pedestrians were killed in separate violence in Dhaka, Jhenidah, Pabna, Chittagong and Bogra on Saturday, the first day of 72-hour blockade.
Over 150 crude bombs were blasted while some 100 vehicles either vandalised or torched and over 60 people were arrested by the law enforcers during the first day of the blockade.
On Friday night, BNP spokesperson Rizvi announced the fresh spell of the 72-hour blockade programme at a press briefing at the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
The blockade is also meant for protesting denial of permission to it to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday afternoon and the continued repression and oppression on opposition leaders and activists
Earlier, the opposition combine had enforced a 71-hour road-rail-waterway blockade from 6am Tuesday to 5am Friday protesting the announcement of the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls.
Source: Banglanews, Bdnews, Daily Star, UNB, Dhaka Tribune