The first day of the two-day nationwide hartal, called by the BNP-led 18-party Opposition alliance, passed off with stray incidents of violence on Wednesday. The police charged baton and fired teargas shells to disperse Opposition activists in different parts of the capital and elsewhere in the country. Pro-hartal activists vandalised and torched more than 30 vehicles in Dhaka and other parts of the country. They torched two vehicles in the city, a bus at Kaliganj in Gazipur, vandalised at least 11 vehicles in Bogra, one bus and one truck each in Sirajganj and Satkhira and two each in Brahmanbaria.
Law enforcers arrested about 40 picketers from different places. Of them, three Secchasebok Dal activists were arrested from Dolairpar, 10 from Jamalpur, six Shibir and BNP activists from Natore, four BNP activists from Rangamati and one Shibir activist was arrested from Chandpur.
The 18-party alliance called the hartal in protest against the killing of unarmed ulema (Islamic scholars) in a crackdown on a Hefazat-e-Islam sit-in at Shapla Square early on Monday. They also demanded immediate release of all detained Opposition leaders and restoration of the CG provision in the Constitution.
The Hefazat-e-Islam, which has called a hartal on Sunday, extended its support to the hartal which would end at 6 pm on Thursday.
In Dhaka, some Opposition activists vandalised several vehicles at Agargaon and Dolairpar in the morning. The police found a grenade lying abandoned near Doyel Chattor in the city.
BNP lawmakers, led by Opposition chief whip Joynal Abedin Faruk, brought out a procession on the Parliament premises at about 10:30 am.
The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), student wing of the BNP, brought out a procession at Khilkhet at about 8 am.
A group of JCD activists brought out another procession in the Tejgaon industrial area at about 6 am. They exploded three bombs.
Another group of JCD activists brought out a procession in front of the Dhaka (North) City Corporation at Gulshan and damaged four vehicles. Three bombs exploded in the Tejgaon Satrasta area at about 6 am. Some picketers exploded two bombs at Sabujbagh at about 7 am. They damaged a vehicle. Picketers also exploded a bomb and burnt some tyres on Mirpur Zoo Road around 7:30 am. Later, the police doused the flames and dispersed the hartal supporters. A bomb exploded in front of the Gabtali Mosque at about 7:20 am.
JCD activists brought out a procession in the Jagannath University area at about 6:30am. They were later dispersed by the police. Law enforcers dispersed a procession of Shibir activists at Uttar Badda at about 6:10am.
The police cordoned off the BNP headquarters at Naya Paltan in the city. Party activists were not allowed to gather in front of the office. Some leaders, including BNP chairperson’s adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu, member secretary of Dhaka city unit Abdus Salam and assistant office secretary of BNP Abdul Latif Joni were inside the office.
Most educational institutions and shopping malls were closed. Attendance in government and non-government offices was thin. Bank transactions were fewer than other days. Motorised vehicles mainly stayed off the road, though some BRTC buses, minibuses and auto-rickshaws were plying. Rickshaws were out in full force. No long-distance bus left the city terminals.
Our Bogra Correspondent reports that BNP activists blocked Bagarpara Road and vandalised some vehicles. They also blocked the Bogra-Rangour highway at Baghaopara in the morning. On receiving information, police rushed to the spot. A clash ensued, with the picketers hurling brickbats and bombs at the police and the law enforcers firing in the air.
In Satkhira, a group of Jamaat-Shibir activists torched a Satkhira-bound bus on the Satkhira-Jessore highway in the Madabkati Bazar area of Sadar upazila in the morning. They also vandalised two more buses in the area. The Jamaat-Shibir men fled the scene after police reached the spot.
Courtesy of The Independent
