Stray incidents of violence marked the first day of the 83-hour-long nationwide road-rail-waterway blockade programme, called by the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance, on Saturday.
The opposition alliance is enforcing the blockade, demanding that the 10th general election be held under a non-party caretaker government. The blockade programme started at 6am on Saturday, and will continue till 5pm on Tuesday. The 18-Party Alliance has already enforced 418 hours of a road-rail-waterway blockade across the country in four spells—71-hour, 131-hour, 144-hour and 72-hour ones—after the election schedule was announced. At least 78 people have been killed, during these blockades.
However, all vehicles working as part of the National Immunisation Day programme will remain out of the purview of the blockade. Besides, media vehicles, ambulances, vehicles of the fire brigade and hearses will remain outside the ambit of the blockade programme.
In the capital, blockaders exploded several crude bombs at Old Dhaka, Badda and Hatirjheel areas, sparking panic among the people. Police detained two people.
Blockaders set a covered van on fire in Bhanga Press area under Demra police station around 8:50am. Around 10:05am, there were two crude bomb blasts in the Link Road area of Middle Badda. Again, blockaders exploded two crude bombs in Motijheel area around 8am.
However, nobody was injured in the incidents.
Shibir activists vandalised several vehicles at Shahjadpur area when they brought out a procession. They also blasted at least 10 crude bombs in front of the Rayshaheb area in the morning. The police fired five rounds of bullets to disperse them and detained two Shibir activists.
Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during a drive seized 30 powerful hand-made bombs and a huge quantity of bomb-making materials from Geneva Camp area in the capital’s Mohammadpur locality on Saturday.
Acting on secret information, a team of RAB-2 carried out a raid on a house in the area and seized 30 powerful hand-made bombs, two crude bombs, one kilogram of gunpowder and a huge quantity of bomb-making materials in an abandoned state, around 10:30 am.
Earlier on Friday, members of the RAB carried out a drive and seized nearly 100 powerful hand-made bombs and a huge quantity of bomb-making materials from the same place in Geneva Camp area.
RAB personnel also recovered 14 petrol bombs from Agargaon area in the city.
Assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Raihan of RAB-2 said after receiving a tip, a RAB team conducted a drive in the area and found the petrol bombs in front of a water tank, in an abandoned state around 2pm.
The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal unit of Dhaka University brought out a procession expressing support for the blockade on the campus in the morning.
Traffic was more or less normal on the city streets. Long-route buses left the Mahakhali bus terminal in the morning to different destinations after receiving security from law enforcement personnel. However, buses at the Gabtali bus terminals did not leave as operators apprehended violence.
The police were seen escorting the vehicles from the terminal to Abdullahpur since 9am.
Large contingents of law enforcement personnel took up positions at various strategic points to fend off any untoward situation.
Outside the capital, sporadic incidents of violence also marked the blockade in different districts.
Our correspondent from Bogra reports: Six persons, including Gonojagoron Mancha activists and two policemen, were injured in a bomb attack in Bogra on Saturday.
Masudur Rahman Helal, a local activist of the Gonojagoron Mancha, said hand-made bombs were hurled at Gonojagoron Mancha activists when they were making preparations to protest the police action against activists of the forum in Dhaka.
Md. Manjurul Haque Bhuiyan, in-charge of the Sadar outpost of the police station, said the bomb attack occurred around 11am at the town’s ‘Saatmatha heart point’.
Masudur Rahman Helal, Advocate Saiful Islam Poltu, Dulal Kundu, sub-inspector of police (SI) Saiful Islam, police constable Addur Rashid and photojournalist Firoz Poshari Rana sustained minor injuries during the blast. The police fired rubber bullets following the explosions to bring the situation under control, town sub-inspector (TSI) Manju said.
Blockade supporters also brought out several processions in the district town.
Besides, unidentified miscreants vandalised five vegetable-laden trucks at Banani intersection in the town on Friday night.
In Laxmipur, activists of Jamaat-Shibir and the BNP’s student wing, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, put up barricades on the Laxmipur-Ramgati Road at Mia Rasta by placing logs at around 7:30am. At one stage, they set fire to the road by pouring petrol.
Shibir activists brought out separate processions in several parts of the district, including Dalal Bazar and Bhabaniganj intersection, in support of the blockade.
In Sylhet, miscreants threw a petrol bomb at the residence of Dr Jamil A Chowdhury, senior vice-president of the city unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), on Friday night.
Witnesses said a group of unidentified miscreants hurled a petrol bomb, targeting the house of Dr Chowdhury, on the Ambarkhana Electric Supply Road in the city around 9pm.
A fire broke out as a result of the bomb blast, burning some chairs and electric cables near the collapsible gate of the building. However, no one was injured in the incident. In Kishoreganj, rail communication on the Dhaka-Kishoreganj route was suspended for an hour on Saturday, as blockaders removed the fishplates from the tracks during the blockade.
Jayanta Mazumder, station master of Shararchar railway station, said some blockaders uprooted fishplates from a portion of the rail tracks near the station around 8:30am to derail trains. Law enforcement personnel on duty rushed to the spot and chased the blockaders away.
Later, a team of railway workers from Bhairab re-fixed the fishplates, clearing the way for trains to run.
Our Sirajganj correspondent reports that blockaders set fire to two goods-laden trucks at Konabari area under Kamarkhand upazila early in the morning, while in Gazipur, blockade supporters hurled brickbats at a running bus, which later hit two other trucks. Twenty people were injured as a result.
-With The Independent input
