At least 12 people, including two policemen, were injured in sporadic violence during a 24-hour nationwide hartal called by the Islami Chhatra Shibir on Wednesday. The Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing had enforced the hartal to demand to know the whereabouts of its missing leaders, their appearance in court and the release of national leaders, including central president Delwar Hossain. Shibir secretary general Abdul Jabbar had announced the hartal on Monday. Kishoreganj and Gazipur districts were kept out of the hartal’s purview in view of Wednesday’s by-election in Kishoreganj-4 constituency and to facilitate campaigning for the forthcoming Gazipur City Corporation polls.
The government had deployed additional law enforcers to maintain law and order during the hartal.
Police said they had foiled several attempts by Shibir activists to bring out processions in Dhaka’s Mirpur, Uttara and Badda areas as well as other places in the country. The law enforcers charged batons, fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to disperse the agitators.
Shibir activists exploded bombs in different parts of Dhaka and clashed with police in other cities, including Comilla and Sirajganj. They also torched a number of vehicles, vandalised a few others and put up road blockades in Natore, Chapainawabganj, Joypurhat and Sylhet.
Coinciding with the hartal, activists of the ruling Awami League and its associate organisations brought out peace processions in different parts of the country in protest against the shutdown.
In the capital, picketers exploded over a dozen crude bombs at Shahbagh, Kalabagan and Shahjadpur in the morning. Police detained a Shibir activist in this connection.
Shibir activists also hurled a crude bomb at a police van in the Kalabagan bus stand area. No one was injured in the attack. The protesters also blasted four to five crude bombs at Rayerbagh in Jatrabari in the morning.
The picketers set fire to a covered van in front of Eden College in Azimpur around 4.30am. At 6.05 am, Shibir activists brought out a procession at Mirpur 1. Police chased Shibir activists at North Badda while they tried to bring out a procession at 6:15am and dispersed them by firing blank shots. Around the same time, the picketers attempted to torch a human hauler at Demra on the outskirts of the city.
Most educational institutions, shopping malls and shops on the major roads were closed.
Government and private offices were open, but attendance was thin. Banks had closed their main doors but transactions reportedly went on as usual.
Vehicular traffic was less compared to other days.
-With The Independent input
