Eight vehicles were torched in separate incidents in the city on Monday, ahead of the BNP-led 18-party alliance’s 36-hour shutdown. Witnesses said activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) vandalised and torched a vehicle around 12 noon as police charged batons, used teargas shells and fired blank shots to disperse a procession brought out by the BNP’s student associate body near its Nayapaltan central office in support of Tuesday’s shutdown.
In another incident, a microbus was set afire reportedly by hartal supporters near Star Kabab at the city’s Dhanmondi Road No 2 around 11:30 am.
Besides, pro-hartal activists set a private car ablaze in front of Sukrabad High School around 1:04 pm.
Meanwhile, a human-hauler (Laguna) was torched at Dhanmondi around 1:40 pm and a minibus at Topkhana road at 3:45 pm.
Pro-hartal activists also set another vehicle ablaze at Kemal Ataturk Avenue at 1:15 pm.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance on Sunday called the 36-hour countrywide hartal beginning at 6 am on Tuesday protesting a Dhaka court’s refusal to grant bail to seven BNP leaders. UNB
