At least one person was killed and 130 others were injured as sporadic
street violence and fighting between protesters and police and Ruling
party men at places marked the fourth day of the 144-hour
road-rail-waterway blockade on Tuesday.
The capital virtually remained cut off from the rest of the country due
to the protracted blockade to press for a non-party neutral
administration to oversee the general elections.
A Jamaat-e-Islami leader was killed in clashes with local traders led by
Awami League activists in Raninagar of Naogaon during the
Jamaat-enforced hartal alongside the blockade while a BNP activist died
of brain haemorrhage while shouting slogans in support of the blockade
in Khulna.
Alongside the blockade, Jamaat-e-Islami enforced a daylong hartal in
protest at the death warrant against its assistant secretary general
Abdul Quader Molla.
New Age correspondent in Naogaon reported that Jamaat activist Shukbar
Ali, 25, died in the afternoon from head injuries he had suffered in the
morning in clashes with local traders led by Awami League activists,
said Naogaon superintendent of police Quamuzzaman Khan.
Witnesses said the local traders and AL activists had put up resistance
when the Jamaat men started vandalising shops in Abadpukur of Raninagar.
The clashes left Shukbar, among 19 others, injured.
Shukbar died on way to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, said local Jamaat ameer Mostafa.
New Age correspondent in Khulna reported that a BNP activist, Helal, had
suffered brain haemorrhage while shouting slogans in a procession at
Goalkhali in the city. He died on way to hospital.
Our correspondent in Rajshahi reported that at least 40 Jamaat-Shibir
men and four police personnel were injured in violent clashes at
Binodpur Bazar in the city in the morning.
Motihar police officer-in-charge Abdul Majid was critically injured in the clashes.
In Laxmipur, at least 10 people were injured in clashes between
AL-backed Juba Leage and BNP-supported Juba Dal at Meghna Bazar in sadar
upazila of the district, reported our correspondent.
Witnesses said that Juba League activists had obstructed a procession of Juba Dal that led to the clashes.
In Sylhet, Jamaat activists torched a police car in Shibganj in the
city. They also vandalised a truck from a sudden procession in the
morning in Majumdari area.
Sylhet police assistant commissioner Rukon Uddin said Jamaat-Shibir men
had attacked a police patrol and set it on fire before fleeing the
scene. Locals doused the flames.
Police arrested 17 pickets, including 15 Shibir men and two BNP activists in the city.
Police also seized huge books and documents from a residence at Paira near the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in the morning.
In Chandpur, at least 10 BNP activists were injured when police opened
fire to break up a procession at Ghagra on the Kachua-Dhaka highway
around midday.
Witnesses said that the blockaders had hurled stones after the police
chased the procession. Police fired several rounds leaving 10 protesters
injured.
BNP activists also put blockade in the confluence of Meghna by
anchoring boats across the river for one hour and a half. Police and
coast guard were dispatched to the spot.
In Narayanganj, At least 20 activists of BNP and Chhatra Shibir were
injured in separate clashes with the police at Kashipur Hatkhola and
Isdair of Fatulla.
Witnesses said that BNP activists had brought out a procession at
Hatkhola on Dhaka-Munshiganj road in the morning. The clashes broke out
when the police chased them to clear the highway.
Ten people were injured in the police action.
The clashes between police and Shibir men in Isdair area also left 10 people injured when police opened fire.
In Dinajpur, at least 30 BNP-Jamaat activists were injured in clashes
with police after they tried to put blockade on railway in Nimnagar area
in the morning.
Witnesses said police had fired rubber bullets to disperse the opposition activists when they tried to block the track.
In Satkhira, Jamaat-Shibir activists blasted several crude bombs and
burnt tyres on road at Kadamtala in the morning. They also disrupted
traffic on Jessore-Satkhira road by putting up blockade, reported our
correspondent.
In Natore, Juba Dal and Chhatra Dal activists blocked the Dhaka-Natore
highway by burning tyres at Sujan Chattar of the town before police
dispersed them, reported our correspondent.
In Jessore, BNP activists brought out a procession carrying the coffin
of Chhatra Dal leader Kabir Hossain Palash who was shot dead by
unidentified assailants on Monday.
District unit JCD has called daylong shutdown for Wednesday protesting at the killing.
Police arrested panel mayor of Chapainawabganj municipality Abul Hasan,
also nayeb-e-amir of the local unit of Jamaat, at his residence at
Haripur on Tuesday afternoon. In protest, Jamaat called a half-day
hartal in the district for Wednesday.
In the capital Dhaka, blockaders exploded crude bombs in different areas during the blockade.
No long-route buses left or entered the city while traffic in the city was thinner than usual.
Violence, arson and attacks on vehicles were also reported from
Chittagong, Chapainawabganj, Magura, Rangamati, Meherpur and Chuadanga. (source)