Sporadic violence in different parts of the country left one person killed and more than 50 injured yesterday as the 36-hour shutdown imposed by the BNP-led 18-party alliance began to press for the release of its leaders.
To add to the woes of city dwellers, especially the poor, Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, has called for another hartal tomorrow protesting the “torture of its detained president Delwar Hossain in police remand”.
In the capital, several crude bombs were exploded in different parts during the hartal. Law enforcers remained on guard at the BNP’s Nayapaltan headquarters since early morning yesterday.
A truck driver was killed when pickets threw brick chips in Baropur area on the Dhaka-Rangpur highway in Bogra around 5:00am.
The brick-chips hit the driver, breaking through the windshield and leaving driver Shahidul Islam Khokon critically injured. Doctors declared him dead after he was taken to a hospital.
Pickets, meanwhile, torched at least five vehicles in the capital, Gazipur and Ashulia last night. Of them, a covered van carrying medicine was set on fire at Shantinagar and a private car at Malibagh, fire service officials said.
At least 25 people were injured in a clash between activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in Moulvibazar. At least 15 vehicles and 10 shops were vandalised during the violence. Police arrested four people.
In Narayanganj, 10 people were injured, two by bullets, as the opposition men fought with police. Twenty-three BNP men were detained in this connection.
Police and BNP men exchanged bullets at Chakaria upazila of Cox’s Bazaar, leaving two opposition activists wounded.
In Jamalpur, 10 people were injured in a clash between BCL and BNP men.
In Rajshahi, three people were injured when JCD men clashed with police. Law enforcers fired over 100 rubber bullets and teargas shells to disperse the JCD men, who blasted five cocktails.
Pickets vandalised ten battery-run auto rickshaws, a car and set fire to a pick-up van and three battery-run auto rickshaws at different points in Rangpur. Police arrested five pro-hartal activists.
Other districts such as Jessore, Pirojpur, Chapainawabganj, Chandpur, Gazipur, Pabna, Dinajpur, Chittagong and Khulna also witnessed clashes during the hartal hours.
Unidentified people burned two buses in Gazipur sadar upazila around 7:00pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban have been exempted from the purview of the hartal on the occasion of Boishabi, a traditional festival of indigenous people welcoming the New Year.
Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were seen in good numbers and the presence of public transport was relatively higher than during other recent hartals. Long distance buses were seen idle at terminals across the country but rail and launch services were normal.