SAVAR, June 5: Pickets blocked the Dhaka—Aricha highway for eight hours during a day-long hartal in Dhamrai.-thana today demanding the release of a local BNP leader, reports UNB.

An unidentified ix'destrian was run over by a bus when it was trying to escape an attack by the demonstrators as several hundred transports with thousands of passengers were stranded on the highway during the blockade, witnesses said.

A faction of the Dhamrai BNP called for the hartal demanding release of former Upazila chairman Tamizuddin Ahmed who was arrested on May 27 from his residence in Dhaka. He was detained for a month following Irltra-party conflicts, party sources said.

Witnesses said activists of the BNP. Jubadal and Chhatra Dal put up barricades on the Dhaka-Aricha highway from Nayarhat to Joypura from 9 am to 5 pm. blocking movement of traffic.