Police fire teargas shells to disperse the strike supporters at Shahbagh in the city on Thursday.
The eight-hour general strike enforced by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports to press home their 7-point demand, including scrapping coal-based Rampal power plant near the Sunderbans, ended Thursday afternoon in Dhaka amid scattered clashes between police and strike supporters. Police fired rubber bullets, teargas shells and sprayed water from water cannon to disperse the supporters who gathered at Shahbagh on Thursday morning. Pro-hartal supporters also pelted brickbats at police and held rally later protesting the police attack. A large number of law enforcers were deployed in the area. The pro-hartal activists took position on the university campus from 6:00am to 2:00pm. Meanwhile, central leaders of the national committee blocked road in Paltan area around 10:15am in support of the shutdown which started at 6:00am . Later, a rally was held in front of the National Press Club where Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the national committee, declared countrywide rally on January 28 protesting the police attack on strike supporters. The rally in Dhaka will be held in front of the Press Club on that day, he said. Besides, the committee will hold another programme of taking position on the streets across the country on February 25, Anu Muhammad said. A grand rally will be held on March 11 in Khulna city where people from coastal districts will participate, he added. Leaders including Khalequzzaman, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Jonayed Saki, Tipu Biswas, Mosharaf Hossain Nannu, Mushrefa Mishu, among others, were present at the rally. The strike supporters brought out processions in the morning and marched city streets. The national committee enforced the general strike as it fears that if Rampal plant is implemented, the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and a World Heritage site, would be destroyed and about 35 lakh people dependent on the mangrove forest, would lose their earning sources. They said many would become environmental refugees and that nearly five crore people would be exposed to natural calamities. The convener of the committee, engineer Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah and its member secretary, Anu Muhammad in a statement on the eve of the hartal, urged the city dwellers to lend their supports to the hartal by keeping their establishments shut and motorised vehicles off the roads. Source: New Age
