11 vehicles torched, 31 vandalised

The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced 48-hour countrywide hartal is underway from Monday morning amid stray incidents of violence.

The shutdown began at 6.00am on Monday will continue till 6.00am on Wednesday.

In outbreaks of violence during enforcing the countrywide hartal, activists vandalized thirty one vehicles and set fire to eleven others in different parts of the country including the capital during hours of hartal on Monday.

At about 7.15am, a bus was torched in front of the City Hospital at the city’s Mohammadpur.

At about 7.40am, pickets set a pickup van carrying newspapers ablaze at Sabujbagh.

Pickets torched a human hauler in city’s Khilgaon area around 9:30am.

Hartal supporters set fire to a truck and a human hauler (Leguna) at Shaympur in the city. Later, police and locals brought the fire under control.

Pickets torched a microbus and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw in capital’s Banani area from a pro-hartal procession brought out by Chhatra Dal men around 8:45am, correspondent reports.

Beside, pickets vandalized 10 to 12 vehicles in different parts of the town.

Chhatra shibir men, from separate pro-hartal processions, vandalized three vehicles in city’s Badda and Babubazar areas around 7:00am.

Chhatra Dal men vandalized a bus at Shewrapara in city’s Mirpur area around 9:30am.

Local Juba Dal men brought out a procession at Jatrabari intersection around 8:00am.

Later, pickets vandalized two buses in front of Chang Pei Restaurant and escaped from the spot quickly as police rushed to the spot.

On the other hand, a staff bus was vandalized by miscreants in city’s Dholaipar area at about 8:45am.

Beside, some 30 cocktails and petrol bombs were exploded in different parts of the country, including capital’s Mirpur, Jatrabari, Satrasta and Babubazar areas during the hartal hours.

At about 6.35am, JCD activists brought out a procession at Mirpur-1 when 4-5 crude bombs were exploded. Police then dispersed the procession.

Pickets blasted three crude bombs at Mirpur-11 while one bomb was exploded in front of Mirpur Girls Ideal College at about 6.45am.

At about 7.15am, JCD and Jubo Dal activists brought out a procession at Pallabi and Benaroshi Palli in the capital.

Several crude bombs were blasted at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at about 6.45am, three at Shyamoli at the same time and one bomb in front of Samarita Hospital at Panthapath at about 7.45am.

Police arrested two pickets along with three crude bombs in the city’s Tejgaon area at about 7.45am.

Activists of the Dhaka University unit of the BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal brought out a procession in the city’s Newmarket area at about 9.40am and fled the area sensing police approach.

On the other hand, at least three picketers were injured, one by bullet, and 19 others were held during clash between police and hartal supporters in Dhaka, Comilla and Narayanganj districts.

Correspondents report one Jamaat men sustained bullet injuries as police opened fire at a procession in city’s Mirpur area around 6:30am. Police also held a Jamaat activist from the spot.

Besides, at least 15 suspected picketers were held from Dhanmondi Satmosjid road area in the morning.

In another incident, police held a picketer while vandalizing vehicle in Jattrabari area in the morning.

A large number of police and Rapid Action Battalion personnel remained deployed at different parts of the capital to maintain law and order.

Plainclothes policemen with cameras were put on alert at a number of strategic points in the city to identify the troublemakers during the hartal hours.

Besides, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel were deployed in the city on Sunday night to prevent subversive activities ahead of Monday-Tuesday’s hartal.

In the capital, police cordoned off the BNP’s central office at Nayapaltan since morning.

The educational institutions in the capital mostly remained closed while attendance in the government and non-government offices was thin.

Slow-moving rickshaws were dominating the city streets as most motorised vehicles stayed off the roads fearing vandalism.

In Narayanganj: Police held three people including district Mahila Dal president while trying to picket and bring out procession in the district on Monday morning.

In Comilla: Three people were injured in a clash between Awami League men and picketers in Laksham upazila of the district during the hartal hours.

In Rangpur: hartal supporters set fire to the slippers of a railway bridge by pouring petrol in Borobari Shigimari area of the divisional city around 5:30am.

In Gazipur: Hartal supporters torched a sand-laden truck in Kaliganj upazila of the district early Monday.

In Mymensingh: Pickets vandalized five auto-rickshaws in front of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital around 7:15 am.

In Bhola: Hartal supporters vandalized a microbus and four battery-run auto-rickshaws in different areas of the district town from morning.

In Sirajganj: Pickets torched two trucks in West side of Bangabandhu Bridge early hours of hartal while a night coach coming from Dhaka was vandalized by miscreants in Lalmonirhat around 6:00am, injuring 10 passengers.

Earlier, at least 22 vehicles were vandalized and torched across the country on Sunday.

At least one person was killed and some 29 people, including two doctors sustained injuries during the pre-hartal berserk.

Meanwhile, police held five Shibir men from city’s Gulshan-1 area on Sunday afternoon while they were staging demo.

The opposition alliance called the strike after police raided the BNP headquarters on Monday evening and arrested over 150 leaders and activists of the party, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, vice-chairmen Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Farroque and BNP joint secretaries general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Amanullah Aman.

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.

Opposition BNP on Saturday reaffirmed that it would enforce hartal on March 18 and 19 if the party top leaders are not freed.

Courtesy: The Daily Sun