Hartal passes off; one dead

The killing of a teenage boy in Chapainawabganj and stray incidents of violence marked the second day of the BNP-led 18-party alliance’s countrywide hartal, which was withdrawn two and a half hours before it was supposed to end.The opposition alliance called the shutdown off following a building collapse near Savar bus stand on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday morning that left over 100 people killed many more injured.
In Chapainawabganj, a teenage boy, Asgar Ali Limon, 13, son of Lokman Hossain of Siala village, was shot dead and 10 others, including a magistrate, were injured in a clash between law enforces and Islami Chhatra Shibir workers at Upararajarampur in Sadar upazila during the hartal hours.
The clash ensued when a joint team of police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) went there to remove blockade put by Shibir men on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi around 11:30am.
According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police sources, nine crude bombs were recovered, three cops injured and 14 people arrested in the capital.
Addressing a post-hartal press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office, BNP chairperson’s adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu claimed that police arrested over 300 opposition activists across the country during the hartal hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, while more than 446 injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres’ in two days. “Besides, some 900 BNP men were implicated in false cases.”
In the capital, pickets blasted two crude bombs and burnt tyres at Bijoy Sarani around 6:05am. Police arrested one person from the spot.
At 6:15am, Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal activists brought out a procession in support of the hartal at Satrasta in Tejgaon industrial area and exploded three crude bombs. Police arrested one of them from the spot.
Jubo Dal men brought out a procession and set tyres on fire in Tejgaon industrial area at about 6:10am in support of the hartal. Law enforcers picked up a hartal activist from the procession.
At 7:15am, pickets blasted five bombs and torched tyres on Nurjahan Road in Mohammadpur area. Later, law enforcers arrested three pickets from the spot.
Around 6:10am, two bombs went off at Mohakhali Rail crossing. At 7:25am, hartal supporters hurled two bombs targeting a police vehicle at Shahjadpur. However, nobody was injured in the attack.
Pickets tried to set a human hauler (tempo) on fire at Dhania near Jatrabari at about 6:20 am.
At 9:15am, Dhaka Mohanagar North Chhatra Dal brought out a procession from in front of BRAC University at Mohakhali and set a tempo afire. A crude bomb went off there at that time.
Shibir activists brought out a procession and brunt tyres on the road in Badda area at about 7:30am.
At about 7am, Banani thana Swechchhasebak Dal brought out a procession at Mohakhali intersection in support of the strike and exploded four crude bombs.
Huge police were seen deployed around the BNP central office.BNP central office at Nayapaltan was found locked in the morning. No opposition activists were found in front of the party office.
In Narayanganj, at least 10 activists of BNP, Jubo Dal and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) were injured in separate clashes with police in the city in the morning.
In Luxmipur, pickets blasted 10-11 crude bombs in different areas of the district town in the morning. On the other hand, BNP men vandalised an ambulance carrying patients on the Laxmipur-Maju Chowdhury Haat Road.
In Gazipur, eight pickets were injured as police charged baton to disperse them while they were blasting several crude bombs in Tongi upazila headquarters in the morning, leaving two pedestrians injured.
In Natore, BNP activists vandalised a CNG-run auto- rickshaw in Alaipur area of the district.
In Sylhet, hartal supporters brought out processions in different areas of the city and blocked various roads by placing logs.
In Barisal, hartal supporters damaged a private car, mini truck, two rickshaws and two three-wheelers in different areas of the city. Police arrested four hartal supporters from different parts of the city on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Police arrested four pickets from the Court Road area in the district town during the hartal hours.
Hartal was observed in other districts peacefully as there was no report of any untoward incident from there.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced the shutdown to realise its various demands, including the release of its top leaders.
The hartal was also meant for creating pressure for restoring the caretaker government system and protesting ‘government repression and oppression’ of the opposition leaders and activists, and forcing the ‘failed, incompetent and autocratic regime’ to quit. UNB

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