At least six minibuses were torched at different parts of the capital ahead of the 48-hour countrywide hartal called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance from 6am on Monday.Police said a bus was torched by hartal supporters near the north gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque around 12:55pm.
Another bus was torched at Malibagh around 1:35pm, while two near BNP’s Nayapaltan central office and near Ananda Cinema Hall in Farmgate area in five minutes from 2pm.
Yet in two more incidents, one minibus was set afire near Eden College around 3:15pm while another near Kalyanpur bus stand at 3:30pm.
However, there was no report of any casualty in the arson attacks.
The 18-party alliance called the hartal after police raided the BNP central office on Monday evening and arrested over 150 leaders and activists of BNP, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, vice chairmen Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abedin Farroque, BNP joint secretaries general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed and Amanullah Aman.
The alliance had given the government until Thursday to release the detained leaders and thus avert the shutdown.
Though three of the BNP leaders — Mirza Fakhrul, Khoka and Altaf Hossain — were released the following day, the remaining leaders and workers were sent to jail. UNB
