The first day of the 30-hour countrywide hartal enforced by 12 Islamist parties was marked by sporadic clashes that injured at least 200 people, including 15 policemen, and resulted in the arrest of at least 400 demonstrators.
The main flashpoints were at Panchabati under Fatullah upazila and Kanchpur Bridge of Siddirganj upazila on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway where police and Awami League members clashed with pro-hartal activists, resulting in the injury of at least 50 people, including 10 policemen.
'Panchabati virtually turned into a battlefield during the hour-long clashes in the morning. At least 15 people, who have no connection with the hartal, were also beaten up by AL members,' Golap Ahmed, a former Union Parishad member, told New Age.
Picketers put up barricades on the busy Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Kanchpur, set fire to tyres and also looted a pistol and a shotgun from the police, which were later recovered. The police arrested 13 activists of the Islami
Andolon Bangladesh from the area.
Police used lathis to break up pro-hartal processions in different parts of the capital in the first 12 hours of the hartal, which has the full support of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
However, the BNP and Jamaat activists were not seen on the streets during the hartal called in protest against incorporation of the 'wrong' translation of 'Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim' in the Constitution.
The activists of the AL and its front organisations joined the police in bashing up the picketers, who were mostly attired in Islamic caps and long robes, leaving many of them seriously injured.
In Keraniganj, pro-strike processions came under attack by AL men backed by the police. At least 50 people were injured, 10 of whom were admitted to Mitford and Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Educational institutions remained closed, while banks and some private business houses kept their backdoors open. Government offices, heavily guarded by the police, remained open, though attendance was thin.
Container handling and other activities inside the Chittagong Port remained normal, but goods were not transported.
The railway and airport officials did not report any disruption in the schedule of trains and flights during the hartal. However, no inter-district buses were active during the hartal hours.
A few launches plied various river routes but with fewer passengers, said launch owners.
Although inter-district buses remained totally off the roads, traffic in the capital, Chittagong and some other cities returned to almost normal after 8:00pm.
People in the capital were in a relaxed mood as pro-hartal demonstrators were not given any chance to get a foothold on the streets where smaller vehicles, particularly rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, plied the roads freely without any obstruction from picketers.
Some buses, carrying commuters, also plied the streets without any obstruction. Most the people in the city, however, preferred to remain home instead of going out.
'I stayed home, fearing trouble on the streets, and spent the time with my family,' said Altaf Hossain, an automobile engineer and resident of Mirpur.
Groceries in different parts of the city were open and so were the kitchen markets, although the large shopping malls and supermarkets remained closed.
Syed Mohammad Rezaul Karim, amir of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, said at a press conference that the AL men and police jointly attacked his party members during the hartal, leaving 2,573 injured throughout the country. Of them, 371 who were seriously injured were being treated in hospital or clinics. He claimed that at least 1,251 people were arrested.
He urged the government to release the detained party men and to take immediate steps for restoration of the clause 'Absolute Faith in Allah' in the Constitution.
A faction of the Khelafat Majlis, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan, Sammilita Ulema Mashaikh Parishad, National Democratic Party, Islami Oikya Andolan, Bangladesh Muslim League, Bangladesh National Awami Party, National Awami Party (Bhasani), Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, Bangladesh Islamic Party and Nezame Islam Party called the hartal on June 30, immediately after the passage of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Bill.
The hartal, they said, is also in protest against incorporation of the wrong translation of 'Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim' in the Constitution, from which they have demanded the dropping of all the clauses in the National Women Development Policy and the National Education Policy that contradict the strictures of Islam.
Locals said that fierce clashes took place in Siddhirganj between hartal supporters and police at Panchabati when the picketers were trying to barricade the road at around 6:30am.
Several hundreds hartal supporters, mostly activists of Islami Andolon, took to the streets armed with bamboo sticks, chanting slogans against the government, and at one stage vandalized three vehicles.
The pro-hartal activists later clashed with the police whom they pelted with stones and brickbats. At and one stage they surrounded the policemen and beat them up indiscriminately.
At least 10 police personnel, including additional police superintendent Saidur Rahman and Fatullah thana's officer-in-charge Ainul Haque were injured in the attacks by picketers.
Saidur Rahman and Anwar Hossain were rushed to the DMCH as both sustained head injuries. Later, Saidur Rahman was shifted to Square Hospital.
The police and AL activists clashed with picketers at Madaninagar near Kanchpur Bridge on early morning, and at least 20 people were injured. Police lathi-charged the picketers and fired tear shells when they were trying to barricade the busy road. At least one bus was vandalized by them. The picketers left the spot after chased by the police and AL activists.
Later, Chhatra League activists, backed by the police, attacked the people and looted at least 10 shops located on both sides of Madaninagar Madrassah road at around 9:30am.
Police ransacked the houses there and beat up people indiscriminately during the hour-long attack on the houses and business establishments. They also shot one Tofail Ahmed after entering a barbershop. Critically injured, he was admitted to the DMCH.
BCL thugs entered shops and houses and indiscriminately beat up men wearing caps, said Golap Ahmed, a former UP member.
'BCL thugs vandalized 10 shops which were closed in the morning. They broke the locks of the shops and beat up the employees. Tofail was having his hair cut when police shot him in his leg and chest,' he said.
In Chittagong, the police arrested 49 picketers from Kadamtoli, Bahadderhat, Mansurabad, Chandgaon and Bandartila as they had blocked the roads since the morning.
In Barisal, no picketers were seen as the police took control of the streets which remained empty.
The New Age correspondent in Pabna reported that a mobile court sentenced picketers to different terms of imprisonment during the hartal on Sunday. Earlier, the police arrested 17 activists of the ISA from various areas of the district when they were picketing.
The officer-in-charge of Pabna Sadar thana, Enayet Uddin, said that the police raided Gaspara, Banglabazar and other areas of the district from the morning on Sunday. During the drive the police arrested 17 activists of the ISA from various spots of the town while they were picketing.
The arrestees were produced before a mobile court at about 3pm on Sunday. The mobile court, conducted by the executive magistrate Sarwar Alam, jailed 11 activists of the ISA for picketing and released the rest because they were too young, said the OC.
In Noakhali, twelve picketers where sent to jail by a mobile court conducted by Khandkar Nurul Hoque, Noakhali sadar's upazila nirbahi officer, after the picketers vandalised two motorised vehicles at Shonapur Zero Point.
Our correspondent in Patuakhali reported that five policemen were injured after hartal supporters attacked them at about 8am on Sunday. All of them were admitted to Kalapara Health Complex. The police arrested 12 picketers from the spot.
Md Azad Miah, SP of Patuakhali, said that a group of picketers, who identified themselves as activists of Islami Andolon Bangladesh's Kalapara unit, burned a tire at Chakamoiya on the Kalapara-Patuakhali highway at about 8am, but left the place after being chased by the police.
In Sylhet city, leaders and activists of the Khelafat-e Majlis tried to bring out a procession from Bandarbazar at about 10:00am, but were dispersed by the police.
In Narsingdi at least 30 picketers were arrested by Narsingdi sadar thana police from various spots.
Source : New Age
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