The police attacked lawmakers and activist of the opposition BNP and its allies in Dhaka and elsewhere on the first day of their 48-hour general strike on Wednesday amid continued arrest of leaders and activists and imprisonment in trial by mobile courts for their suspected involvement in picketing. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party said that 400 activists, including the party's former lawmakers Quamruddin Ehiya Khan Majlish and Nure Ara Safa, had been arrested at places across the country. Eighty of them were arrested in the capital.
The party further said that at least 500 were injured in clashes with the police on the first day of the strike which halted public life.
Mobile courts jailed 17 people in Dhaka and 1 each in Bogra and Dinajpur for their suspected involvement in picketing.
The police headquarters on Wednesday said that they had arrested 450 people at places across the country at night on Tuesday and on Wednesday.
The BNP and its four allies — Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Naziur), Islami Oikya Jote and Khelafat Majlish, which split from the Islami Oikya Jote — are enforcing the general strike simultaneously in protest at the scrapping of the caretaker government provision from the constitution and in demand for some other issues.
The police attacked about 30 BNP lawmakers on Manik Miah Avenue as the strike began. The leaders were headed for the party's central office at Naya Paltan about 7:00am under leadership of the opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque.
The lawmakers said that when they walking down the road, a team of policemen, led by Harun-or-Rashid, additional deputy commissioner of the Tejgaon zone, suddenly started abusing them, which led to an altercation.
The police then attacked the opposition chief whip as Harun shouted 'action,' the lawmakers added.
Policemen in riot gear beat Farroque with truncheons, tore off his polo shirt and kicked him down on the ground.
As he tried to escape, the police chased him to the lawmakers' apartments, captured him in the garage of a building and severely beat him again, the lawmakers said.
The injured Farroque was taken to the flat of lawmaker Syeda Ashifa Ashrafi Papiya and then admitted to the intensive care unit in United Hospital at Gulshan.
'They kicked me down on the ground. I got injured in the head and the leg. You can still see the stains of blood on the floor of the garage of this building,' Farroque said when he was staying in Papiya's house.
The ICU in-charge in United Hospital, Asif Mahmud, said that Farroque was taken to the ICU after an operation.
'He has injuries overall the body, especially in the legs. The legs have swollen. He feels acute pain in the head and at knee-joints. He is also suffering from respiratory problems,' Mahmud said.
Harun-or-Rashid, who was a member on the Chhatra League central committee headed by Bahadur Bepari, told New Age, 'As I saw him about to attack a vehicle, I grabbed him by the collar and asked him "Why are you doing this, Sir?" and he pushed me down.'
'Then there was a scuffle. And I also got injured. I am now admitted to Police Hospital at Rajarbagh,' he said, brushing aside the allegation of launching an attack on Farroque.
The BNP lawmakers planned to lay siege to the office of the speaker and lodge a complaint with him but later dropped the plan as Farroque needed to be sent to hospital. They later lodged a complaint with the speaker in the evening when the session was on.
The police picked up former lawmaker Nure Ara Safa, also the president of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal, and seven others at noon from Mohakhali when she was leading a procession.
The police at Mirpur foiled a procession of the BNP and its allies by charging at the protesters with truncheons near Senpara just after dawn and picked up eight activists. The pickets also pelted the policemen with stones.
The police clashed with pickets at Badda when the protesters started a fire with tyres.
The police had cordoned off the party's central office for the day. They did not let anybody in the office.
One of the party's standing committee members was sitting on the pavement in front of the office inside the police cordon. The party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir stayed in the office.
The police picked up from the area at least 10 people, including former lawmaker Quamruddin Ehiya Khan Majlish.
The party's joint secretary general Rizvi Ahmed told the media that the police were not letting anyone near the office.
Roads in the capital were deserted during strike hours. There were only a few buses, mostly of the BRTC, plying a few routes.
People had to depend largely on CNG-run auto-rickshaws and rickshaws. No buses plied long routes on the day.
Educational institutions remained closed but Dhaka University authorities conducted examinations on the day despite the turnout of a handful of examinees.
Loading and unloading of goods at jetties in Chittagong and Mongla ports were normal but the transport of goods to and from the ports was suspended, port authorities said.
The railway and the civil aviation authorities said that train communication and flight operations were normal.
Law enforcers had been out on the roads early morning, much before the protesters came out. The lawmen allowed no picketing or procession in support of the strike in the capital.
The ruling party and its fronts, however, brought out processions at places such as Dhaka University, Titumir College and Jagannath University.
Supporters of the Chhatra League also locked in a scuffle at Titumir College over distribution of snacks after the procession.
A BNP procession led by the Narayanganj unit general secretary, Kazi Maniruzzaman, came to be attacked by ruling Awami League supporters at Tarabo of Rupganj triggering clashes between the police and pickets in which at least 17 injured.
The police charged at the protesters with truncheons indiscriminately and fired 21 rounds to disperse pickets. The lawmen also arrested two BNP supporters at Fatullah and Rupganj.
Chhatra League and Juba League activists also attacked newsmen and tried to snatch their cameras as they were taking photograph of attack they launched.
The New Age correspondent in Rajshahi said that at least 10 people hurt in a clash between the police and the supporters of the strike. The police detained seven pickets from places in the city.
City unit BNP leaders brought out a procession about 9:00am and the police stopped them at Saheb Bazar. The police picked up six activists from the place.
Ten activists of Jamaat-e-Islami were injured in clashes with the police in the Lakshmipur crossing. The police arrested Rajpara unit Jamaat amir, Abdul Khalek, at the place.
Reports from Chittagong said that the police kept BNP leaders and activists confined to the compound of the party's office at Nasiman Bhaban. The activists and the police also chased each other at place several times.
The city unit BNP president, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, addressed a rally at the office premise in police cordon.
The city unit BNP general secretary, Shahadat Hossain, told New Age that the police had arrested 15 of their activists at places in the city during the strike. The police, however, said they had arrested eight people.
Amena Begum, deputy commissioner at the north zone of the Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said that they had arrested six people on charges of vandalising vehicles and two others in possession of patrol bombs.
At least 25 people were injured as the police attacked pickets in Khulna. The police also arrested 10 BNP and Jamaat activists on the day.
The police attacked a procession in front of the Khulna Press Club and arrested city unit leader Moshiur Rahman Nannu.
Chhatra Dal activists also clashed with the police near the BL College when the protesters tried to bring out a procession.
The police attacked pickets Sheikhpara in the city where at least five supporters of the strike were injured.
Reports from Barisal said that at least 20 pickets had been arrested at places in the city. Pickets blocked roads and vandalised vehicles. The police, however, took control of the roads and dispersed the protesters.
The police had conducted overnight raids on houses of leaders of the BNP and its allies before the strike began.
Two factions of the Barisal BNP brought out separate processions in the city. A faction carried out picketing at Nathullabad bus terminal, BM College, Natun Bazar and Lakutia while the other faction did picketing on Port Road, and steamer and launch terminal.
In Sylhet, supporters of the strike could not come out on the roads because of heavy police presence since early morning. The police picked up 11 pickets at places across the city.
The police in Noakhali foiled every move of the supporters of the strike of bringing out processions and arrested 27 pickets. The pickets also vandalised three trucks laden with goods and two motorcycles.
Sporadic clashes took place in Dinapur where at least 10 BNP activists were injured.
In Narsingdi, 10 activists were injured when the police attacked a procession in the morning.
A mobile court in Bogra jailed Mahila Dal leader Shirin Aktar Shilpi for 15 days on charges of picketing.
The pickets vandalised a number of vehicles while a truck carrying wheat skidded off the road into a ditch when it was trying to escape an attack by pickets.
Source : New Age
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