Cocktail blasts, vandalism mark hartal in city

Around 40 cocktails explode; 15 vehicles vandalised; several people detained; BNP central office cordoned off

 

BNP activists pour petrol on a footpath and set fire in front of BNP office at Naya Paltan in the city during the eight-hour hartal on Thursday. 

Cocktail blasts, vandalism and clashes between law enforcers and pro-hartal activists marked the eight-hour long countrywide hartal in the city on Thursday.
Nearly 40 cocktails were exploded and around 15 vehicles were vandalised at different city points since the beginning of the shutdown from 6:00am.
Police detained around 10 people from different areas of the capital for their alleged link with pro-hartal activities. A number of people also sustained injuries in clashes between pro-hartal activists and law enforcers in the city.
The pro-hartal activists went berserk at a number of city areas including Khilgaon, Basaboo, Banglamotor Kantaban, Paltan, Mirpur and Jatrabari areas.
The incident of minor violence also reported from Narayanganj, Chittagong, Noakhalia, Rajshahi, Lalmonirhat and Pabna.
Pro-hartal activists were barred from holding rallies at different city points.
At least 13 cocktails exploded in front of BNP central office in Naya Paltan since the morning.
In Khilgaon, at least 10 rounds of bullets were exchanged during a clash between Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) activists and police.
Police also detained seven JCD men from the spot around 8:00am, said Khilgaon police.
Witnessed said a number of cocktails were also exploded there during the incident.
It is also reported that Shibir men engaged in a clash with police at Mouchak intersection of the city in the morning.
In Hazaribagh, two people including a police sub-inspector were injured when police shot rubber bullets to disperse hartal supporters on Sultanganj Road around 6:30am.
The injured were identified as Mizanur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Hazaribagh Police Station; and Emran Hossain, 42.
The incident occurred when some pro-hartal activists attacked a police van carrying the SI and two constables in the morning.
The police personnel shot rubber bullets on the pickets when they threw brick chips on the policemen, leaving the duo injured.
Emran who received bullet wounds in right legs was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The injured person however said he was returning home after offering Fajr prayers in the mosque when the attack took place.
In Shewrapara of Mirpur, a gang of eight to ten pickets suddenly took to the streets and vandalised at least five vehicles -- two minibus and one BRTC bus, private car and human hauler (Leguna) -- at Begum Rokeya Sarani around 11:10am.
Two cocktails were thrown from a moving vehicle in front of Mirpur Bangla College around 10:40am.
Activists of Swechchhasebak Dal also vandalised several vehicles in front of Mirpur Indoor Stadium.
Some people sustained minor injuries when JCD activists exploded several cocktails and vandalised a vehicle in Gulshan in the morning.
Police detained two activists of Jatiyatabadi Mahila Dal when they tried to bring out a procession at Gulshan-2.
JCD activists blasted three cocktails at Bailey road in the morning, creating panic among locals. Four cocktails were exploded in front of the Razarbagh Police Lines where a vehicle was also vandalised.
In Moghbazar, Shibir men vandalised a vehicle.
Police and pickets locked into a clash at Bangla Motor around 9:00am. Several vehicles were ransacked during the clash.
At Malibagh, Police lobbed teargas shells when Swechchhasebak Dal activists blasted five cocktail.
In Kantaban, a group of BNP-Jamaat men brought out a procession in support of their hartal around 5:40am.
The demonstrators dispersed as police fired blank shots.
Police detained former Dhaka City Corporation ward commissioner Nabi Ullah Nabi when he tried to bring out a procession at Shaheed Farooque Road in Jatrabari area of the capital.
Police also fired few rounds of blank shots to disperse the demonstrators at around 10:00am, reports our correspondent covering the hartal.
Police also picked up five from another spot of Jatrabari.
Meanwhile, a group of BNP leaders and workers including party Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi remained cordoned off at the party central office in Nayapaltan since three days.
The hartal is quite relaxed in other parts of the city with low presence of city services and CNG-run three-wheelers. Private cars stayed off the city thoroughfares fearing vandalism.
Rickshaws like other hartal days were seen plying on the city streets during the early morning on Thursday.
Huge contingent of law enforcers were deployed at all the key points and intersections in the capital to main law and order situation.
Due to the hartal, the ongoing school final examinations across the country were postponed. All educational institutions remained closed.
At least eight vehicles were set ablaze in the capital last night ahead of today's hartal on Wednesday evening. One of the vehicles was a bus that used to ferry policemen. It was torched at Bangla Motor intersection. Several homemade bombs also exploded in Dhaka last night.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced the shutdown protesting against the arrest of BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and demanding restoration of the caretaker government system.
Fakhrul was arrested on Monday in connection with his alleged link with vandalising a vehicle in the city.