Stray incidents on 24th day of blockade

FE Report | Published: January 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The 24-hour hartal in the capital city alongside a daylong one in Dhaka and eight other nearby districts, enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance protesting the filing of 'false cases' against Khaleda Zia and the arrest of its leaders and activists, was marked by stray incidents of violence on Thursday.
The 24th day of indefinite countrywide blockade passed off amid fresh calls for hartal in Jessore and Sylhet. The 20-party alliance called a 24-hour hartal in Jessore from 6:00 am on Sunday while Sylhet district and city units of Chhatra Dal called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district for Sunday.
According to UNB, miscreants torched a double-decker bus of Dhaka University at Chankharpool in the capital around 2:40pm on the day. On information, fire fighters rushed in and doused the blaze. None was injured.
On the other, eight hawkers sustained splinter injuries as pickets blasted several crude bombs in front of New Market of the capital in the afternoon. The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The shutdown programme that began at 6:00 am on Thursday, alongside the countrywide indefinite transport blockade, sponsored by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, will end at 6:00am on Friday in Dhaka city.
The eight other districts are Gazipur, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Tangail, Kishoreganj, Narsingdi and Mymensingh.
A large number of law enforcers remained deployed in different parts of the district to fend off any trouble.
Meanwhile, sporadic incidents of crude bomb blasts and vandalism were reported from different parts of the country during the countryside transport blockade.
In Jessore, miscreants hurled several crude bombs at the houses and business establishments of five BNP leaders, including former minister and BNP standing committee member Tariqul Islam, in the district town around 1:30am on Wednesday.
Besides, a parked bus was torched at Kismat Noyapara in the outskirts of the town around 12:30am on Wednesday.
In Khulna, police arrested 40 leaders and activists of BNP-led alliance from different areas of the city.
In Sylhet, activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) allegedly vandalised a truck and two CNG-run auto-rickshaws in the city's Kumarpara area around 3pm during the dawn-to-dusk hartal in Sylhet division on the day, enforced by the local unit BNP protesting the filing of cases against its chairperson Khaleda Zia.
FE Report adds: Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami called a 36-hour hartal in Rajshahi from Saturday protesting death of its local leader Nurul Kabir Shahin who was killed in a "shootout" with police on Wednesday.
Police detained at least 36 youths from a dormitory of a madrasa at Mir Hazaribagh of Dhaka ahead of the BNP-led 20-party alliance's hartal.
They are all students of Tamirul Millat Kamil Madrasa, said Dr Abu Eusuf, vice principal of the educational institution. "Twelve among them are candidates of Dakhil tests, equivalent to Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams."
"15 of those detained are Alim examinees," he added.
Meanwhile, the government will deploy some 12,000 Ansar members at 993 vulnerable points on highways and regional highways across the country from Friday (today) to prevent acts of sabotage. Initially, the Ansar men would be deployed at 216 points on Friday and they would start guarding other points gradually, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday.
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