AL, associate bodies take possession of city streets

Leaders and workers of the ruling Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies and likeminded organisations took possession of the streets of Dhaka city on the last day of the Jamaat-sponsored 2-day countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal (total shutdown) Thursday, reports BSS.

The Jamaat-e-Islami called the two-day dawn-to-dusk hartal across the country in protest against capital punishment handed down to its central leader ATM Azharul Islam for committing crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971.

The AL and its associate bodies held rallies and brought out anti-hartal marches in different areas of the city. Denouncing the hartal, sporadic small processions were brought out from various city localities towards AL central office at Bangabandhu Avenue since early in the morning and within 10 am the entire central part of the capital turned into an area of processions.

At that time, Awami Juba League (AJL), Awami Swechchasebak League (ASL) and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) took out separate anti-hartal processions at Bangabandhu Avenue, Gulistan Square, Noor Hossain Square, Purana Paltan and Bangabandhu National Stadium areas.

At noon Jatiya Sramik League (JSL) organised a rally at Balaka Square in Motijheel Commercial Area from where an anti-hartal procession was brought out. Awami League (AL) joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif attended the rally as the chief guest with JSL president Sukkur Mahmud in the chair.