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• Police-picket battle, violence mark 1st day of 36-hr hartal

Clashes between police and opposition activists left yesterday nearly 100 people injured in Dhaka on the first day of the 36-hour countrywide hartal called by Awami League-led 14-party combine. The day witnessed torching of some motorised vehicles, indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets and lobbing of tear gas canisters by law enforcers in the capital. The transport network and business in the city were largely paralysed.

The hartal was called to protest police ‘atrocities’ on the opposition leaders and workers during their Dhaka Siege programme on Sunday and press demands for resignation of the ‘partisan’ CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) and his two Commissioners, and reform in the Election Commission.

Apart from Dhaka, hartal was also observed, accompanied by police-picket clashes and violence, in other parts of the country.

Major clashes between police and the opposition activists occurred at least at three spots in the city’s Swarighat, Russell Square and Mohakhali.

The opposition leaders claimed that over 50 leaders and activists were arrested during their peaceful demonstration.

During Sunday’s ‘Dhaka Siege’ programme a number of Awami League leaders were hurt in police action. They included AL central leaders Mohammad Nasim MP, Abdus Shaheed MP, former Chief of the Army Maj Gen (Retd) KM Shafiullah and Maj Gen (Retd) Subid Ali Bhuiyan and some lawmakers.

The major incident in the city yesterday took place in the old city’s Chawk Bazar and its adjoining areas in the morning when the retreating opposition activists chased by the police and BDR forces torched five motorised vehicles including two food-laden trucks and one maxi-human hauler requisitioned by police on the eve of hartal.

As the police and BDR squads repeatedly chased the opposition activists through different lanes of Chawk Bazar, Rahmatganj and Swarighat localities in the morning, they tried to bring out isolated processions in favour of their action programme. They set fire to five vehicles. In their bid to disperse the pickets, police used batons, lobbed 25 rounds of tear gas canisters and then fired rubber bullets that left at least 25 injured.

The situation in the area turned volatile as former legislator from Lalbagh-Hazaribagh-Kamrangirchar constituency and joint secretary of Dhaka City Awami League Haji Mohammad Selim roamed the area on a motor bike.

Hundreds of pickets took to the streets chanting various anti-government slogans and showered brick-chips on the law enforcers.

They had to face the wrath of police who chased them through different narrow lanes of these localities. Later, Haji Selim took refuge in his Chawk Bazar residence which was kept cordoned off by BDR and police for several hours.

Police picked up at least 10 pickets from these spots.

At Mohakhali intersection, police intercepted a procession of Awami League led by its presidium member Tofail Ahmed, ASHK Sadique MP, Maj Gen (Retd) Subid Ali Bhuiyan, Advocate Sahara Khatun and AKM Rahamatullah by charging batons first and then lobbing tear gas shells that left at least a dozen including Rafique Khan, a photojournalist of the New Age, injured.

The march was brought out from Gulshan-I and when it reached near Mohakhali flyover landing, police indiscriminately charged batons. The retreating opposition activists pelted stone-chips on the police and BDR forces and skirmishes in the area continued for about an hour. Police arrested eight pickets from the spot.

At least 50 leaders and activists of the opposition Awami League including its presidium member Abdur Razzak MP were injured in police action at Russell Square and the adjacent areas during the hartal hours yesterday.

Police launched surprise attacks on AL and Jubo Mohila League processions twice on the Mirpur Road, charged batons indiscriminately and picked up some 12 opposition activists including three leaders of Jubo Mohila League.

Chase and counter-chase took place for about an hour between the opposition pickets and police intermittently.

Abdur Razzak MP was given first aid at a nearby clinic while among the injured Abbas, Kashem, Akbar, Babar, Rafiq, Alamgir, Monir, Jalal, Haider Himu, Mirjahan Bhuiyan, Sonali Mallik, Khudeza Nasim, Nilufer Yasmin, Nazma Hossain, Maya Begum, Helena Haque, Shamim Ara Baby and Bilkis Akhter were admitted to nearby Bangladesh Medical College Hospital and other clinics.

Police picked up Jubo Mohila League’s Tejgaon Thana Unit president Shamima Rahman, Khilgaon Thana Unit secretary Lovely Islam and Demra Thana Unit secretary Tazinur Islam and sent them to Nilkhet police station.

The entire Kalabagan, Shukrabad and Dhanmondi Road-27 areas looked like a battlefield as police swung into unprecedented anti-hartal action against the opposition processionists, who were marching towards Russell Square, one led by Abdur Razzak MP and Mohammad Nasim MP while another by Jubo Mohila League secretary Professor Apu Ukil and its city unit secretary Sabina Akhtar Tuhin.

Police even did not spare the pedestrians, who came under their indiscriminate baton-charge during the hour-long skirmish. Members of paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) were patrolling the area frequently that created panic among the opposition pickets.

In protest against the police attack, AL later held a rally at Russell Square that was presided over by Abdur Razzak MP. Former Home Minister Mohammad Nasim MP, Abdul Mannan MP, Dr Hasan Mahmud and some AL lawmakers and other central and city unit leaders of AL and its front organisations addressed the rally.

Since Monday night police had put up barbed wire fencing at various strategic points in the city including all the three entry points of Awami League central office on Bangabandhu Avenue to prevent assembly of opposition pickets.

But early in the morning Awami League presidium member Matia Chowdhury and Dhaka City Unit coordinator of the 14-party combine Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya (Bir Bikram) led a procession from Jatiya Press Club.

As the march reached near Noor Hossain Square, police charged batons on the tail of the procession. Some Awami League leaders alleged that at least 25 leaders and activists including central leaders Habibur Rahman Siraj, Meher Afroze Chumki and Faezuddin Mia suffered injuries.

Police picked eight trade union leaders from the spot. The other leaders and workers remained confined within the besieged Awami League headquarters. Repeated processions were brought out in the morning.

In Motijheel Commercial Area, police foiled repeated attempts of Awami League leader Asaduzzaman Noor MP and Jatiya Sramik League leader Roy Ramesh Chandra to bring out processions in favour of the hartal from Shapla Square and its adjoining lanes and dispersed the marchers using batons in the morning. Police picked up four activists including Mohila Committee president of Jatiya Sramik League Raushan Jahan Sathi from the spot in connection with damaging a passenger bus.

A group of Awami League lawmakers led by Col (Retd) Faruque Khan, Shahjahan Khan and Tanzim Ahmed Sohel Taj took out a march from NAM flats. As the marchers reached near Tajgaon College, police intercepted the marchers when the AL legislators locked into an altercation with police.

A heavy contingent of police forced the opposition pickets to retreat through different lanes and bylanes in Mirpur area in the morning as the opposition activists tried to bring out pro-hartal marches. The retreating pickets damaged two buses at Mirpur Section-10.

Shops, business establishments and shopping complexes as well as educational institutions in the city remained closed. Attendance in private offices was comparatively thin. Buses did not operate from all the four inter-district bus terminals in the city.

In the morning, movement of people and vehicles on the city streets was comparatively negligible but as the day wore on the plying of different modes of transports including BRTC buses, minibuses, three-wheelers, CNG-run taxicabs and private taxis increased. However, rickshaws plied abundantly.

Clashes also occurred yesterday in Chittagong, Narayanganj, Sirajganj and some other parts of the country, where police used batons and tear gas to disperse pro-hartal activists, witnesses said.

The protesters responded by throwing rocks at police.

The strikers attacked and damaged the railway stations Lalmonirhat and Teesta disrupting movement of trains.

Inter-district buses were off the road, but river ferries operated with fewer than normal loads, witnesses said.

Several domestic and international flights were cancelled or delayed, airport officials said.

The country’s main Chittagong port remained mostly idle with no delivery of goods, although some ships were loaded and unloaded, port officials said.

Bangladesh’s two stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong remained closed.

Ministers and senior officials went to work with heavy police escorts and traffic was generally much lighter than normal.

Fears of fresh violence had gripped the city of 10 million two days after a violent opposition programme on Sunday that saw around 500 people injured and hundreds more detained.

While the country remains divided over political issues, the business community says it is fed up with repeated shutdowns that badly affect production and exports.

A senior official of a corporate house said, "During hartals (strikes) we are forced to close our trade and business. "All my factories and firms have been closed as we do not want to take any risk of their being attacked or damaged. On each hartal day, the country suffers industrial losses up to 6 billion Taka ($85 million)."

Our DU Correspondent reports: The 36-hour non-stop hartal enforced by the opposition 14-party, which began yesterday, passed off peacefully on the Dhaka University (DU) campus.

Supporting the hartal Chhatra Sangram Parishad (CSP), a combined platform of the opposition student fronts, brought out a procession and held rally on the campus. They were cordoned off by plenty of police deployed for the day.

The CSP is led by Awami League’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL).

On the other hand, denouncing the hartal Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), student wing of the BNP, also took out procession and held rally on the campus. JCD condemned the attack upon journalists by BCL leaders and activists.

Our Staff Correspondent from Chittagong adds: The first day of the 36- hour hartal was observed peacefully in the greater Chittagong yesterday. Picketers ransacked at least 5/6 vehicles during the hartal hours.

Motorised vehicles were kept off the streets of the port city in the first half of the day. A few rickshaws were seen plying the streets during the hartal hours. The mechanised vehicles and rickshaws started plying the roads in the port city after 1pm yesterday. The shopping establishments of the city remained closed. Attendance in both public and private offices was thin. Transactions in the financial institutions including the banks and insurance establishments remained suspended. Picketers ransacked one bus, CNG baby taxies tempos and rickshaws at around 3pm at New Market area in the city.

Production in all the industrial units remained suspended. Movement of trains was normal during the hartal hours.

Several rallies of 14-Party, Awami League, CPB and 11-party were held in the city. The speakers at the rallies said the people of the country are not secure during the tenure of alliance government.

Our Staff Correspondent from Khulna adds: Normal life was disrupted and business activity hampered in Khulna as the 36-hour hartal began here from yesterday morning in response to the call by the Awami League-led 14-party combine.

According to police and other sources, no untoward incident has been reported from any part of the district including the metropolitan area till 6 in the afternoon.

Though motorised vehicles were off the roads during the hartal hours, a number of rickshaws and rickshaw-vans were seen plying all localities without any obstruction. Classes were not held at educational institutions. Some commercial bank branches transacted limited business behind closed doors. Inter-bank transactions were, however, held, as the Clearing House of Bangladesh Bank functioned normally. Traders kept the shutters of their business establishments down in the important and key areas of the city.

The leaders and activists of the opposition parties took to the streets and chanted slogans in support of the hartal.

A brief rally was held in the city near the Awami League office this afternoon with former whip Sheikh Harun-Ur-Rashid of AL in chair. Speakers at the rally warned that they would not allow any national elections without the reforms in the Election Commission and the caretaker government system.

Our Correspondent from Rajshahi adds: The first day of the countrywide 36-hour non-stop hartal from 6am on Tuesday enforced by 14-party opposition combine was observed peacefully with no incident of violence in Rajshahi.

Movement of all forms of road transports to and from Rajshahi remained suspended duirng the hartal hours. The only scheduled flight of Bangladesh Biman was cancelled although train services were normal during the hartal hours. Rickshaws plied roads without any hindrance.

The activities of government offices, banks and other financial institutions including at the head office of Rajshahi Krishi Unayan Bank, Zonal office of Bangladesh Railway, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Sericulture Board, C&B office and Water Development Board remained suspended. There was virtually no transactions at the branches of various banks of the city and in the upazilas of the district. However, the official activities at Rajshahi City Corporation, Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Barind Multipurpose Development Authority remained normal.

Around 11am the 14-Party alliance took out a procession from zero point of Shaheb Bazar which paraded various streets before converging for a meeting at the same point.

During hartal hours, no classes, examinations and official activities were held at Rajshahi University, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi College, Rajshahi Medical College and at the private universities.

Our Staff Correspondent from Sylhet adds: The first day of the 36-hour hartal enforced by the 14-party combine was observed by and large peacefully in Sylhet yesterday.

Mechanised vehicles were off the streets of the city. Transactions at the financial institutions including the banks and the insurances remained suspended. The shopping establishments of the city remained closed. The attendance at both public and private offices was satisfactory.

Train communications were normal and Biman flights operated on scheduled during the hartal hours.

No untoward incident took place in the city or its outskirts during the hartal hours.

Most of the streets and main points of the city were occupied by riot police during the hartal.

Pro-hartal activists held a rally at the court point in the city at about 3pm with A.N.M Shafiqul Haque, president of district AL. Among others, city mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, Barister Arosh Ali, Iftekhar Hossain Shamim, Misbah Uddin Siraj addressed the rally.

Our Noakhali Correspondent adds: At least a dozen of activists of BNP and Awami League suffered injuries in a clash between pro-hartal and anti-hartal supporters at Setubhanga under Begumganj upazila here in the district during the hartal hours yesterday.

The clash between BNP and Awami League activists ensued as the latter tried to prevent movement of vehicles at Setubandha Bazar point at about 5 pm, while the former opposed it. In the clash, the BNP cadres roughed up and stabbed Kutubpur union Jubo League president Saiful Islam (25). He was admitted to Begumganj Thana Health Complex with multiple injuries while the other injured were treated at local clinics.

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