& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Cop raid on AL leaders' houses for weapons proves blank

Staff Correspondent
Police caniedout pre-dawn raids on the houses of senior Awami League (AL) leaders in the city's Gulshan-Banani area from 1:00am to 4:00am ahead of the opposition's programme to besiege Hawa Bhaban yesterday.
A contingent of uniformed and plainclothes police searched Ute
FROM PAGE 1
canisters and foiled every attempt of the demonstrators to gather and take out processions.
At least 40 people including AL's youth front Awami Jubo League General Secretary Mirza Azam and The Inquilab photojournalist Shafiuddin Bitu were wounded in the police swoop. Police also picked up some 200 opposition activists from the city including Paltan, Mouchak, Central Shahid Minar areas.
A foot march of Hasanul Haq Inu-led JSD towards the Prime
Minister's Office at about 4:00pm was also dispersed when it was passing Noor Hossain Square area. BANANI SITUATION
Police put up barbed-wire barricades on all four main avenues leading to Hawa Bhaban, located on road number 13, block D in Banani and BNP leaders and workers played cricket in the ground adjacent to Hawa Bhaban. Residents, businesspeople, office workers and commuters going through Banani area said police continually harassed them.
People, who have their offices, schools and universities in Banani, were not allowed to enter Banani despite showing IDs. Vehicles driving from Tejgaon link-road area toward Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2 circles were also barred from proceeding further and diverted towards Badda at the point of National Shooting Complex in Gulshan.
A businessman, who had to run his office on Road No. 15 in Banani without any staff, said police did not allow anyone to go to his office.
"I was harassed irrationally when I was trying to enter my office at 9.30am. They swept my car, my bag and told me to return home. I shouted and argued until a high police official came," he added.
"I argued whether they would pay for the losses I would incur because of their illogical behaviour and after I answered to their query if I were the tenant of the office space, they finally let me in. But they said nobody else will be allowed to go to my office."
Police vans ceaselessly patrolled the area to stop pedestrians and instructed them to either go back to their homes or outside the area immediately.
"I came with my wife for an urgent appointment with a doctor at a clinic on Road No. 8, but police stopped me and said even the doctor was not allowed to enter the area," said Abdur Rahim. "Now she will have to suffer until a further appointment."
Commuters who tried to enter Gulshan 1 and 2 through Tejgaon Link Road were waylaid at the roadblock in front of National Shooting Complex and diverted towards Badda.
Traffic clogged the Airport Road despite sparse traffic around the city, as police blocked all alternative roads through Gulshan.
PALTAN MAIDAN
PITCHED BATTLE
At Paltan Maidan, the demonstrators fought pitched battle with police for hours from 3:30pm, who chased the demonstrators at least 12 times. Prior to the police attack, Mirza Azam, also an MP, told reporters that the programme was successful. "Police and BNP cadres sealed off the entire Dhaka city and confined its one crore people," he said.
The law-enforcers also sealed off all entries to the AL headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue with barbed-wire fences and mounted guard since morning. "We are just carrying out the orders of government high-ups," said an on-duty police official without elaborating.
Armed police also forced shopkeepers to close their businesses
and hawkers to pack up and leave the place. Locked were the gates of adjacent Ramna Bhaban Market.
All modes of vehicles on the road between Noor Hossain Square and Golap Shah Mazar were also stopped.
Leaders and activists of Awami Jubo League, Sramik League and Krishok League began to gather at different places near Paltan Maidan from 2:00pm and by 3:30pm a few hundred people gathered at the south end of Paltan Maidan. Scores of opposition workers were roaming the adjacent areas in separate groups. At 3:40pm, police chased and dispersed the protesters. A few minuets later, police attacked a procession of Bangladesh Chhatra League in front of the Rajuk Bhaban.
MORE POLICE
SWOOP
Police cordoned an opposition gathering led by Mirza Azam and barred the activists from taking out a procession from the VIP gate of Bangabandhu National Stadium. They charged batons to disperse the gathering and picked up at least five from the scene.
At about 4:00pm, Ahsanullah Master MP and Krishok League President Mirza Jalil reached the spot and along with Mirza Azam once again tried to bring out a procession. Police foiled the attempt and dragged a few others to the police van.
The demonstrators encircled the van when it was speeding from the area with a fellow activist. The demonstrators tried to snatch away the worker from the van, prompting the law-enforcers to fire at least 10 rounds of tear shells, injuring Mirza Azam as one of the shells hit him in the abdomen. Opposition workers rushed him to a city clinic.
Police also attacked a procession of Awami Sechhasebak League near Mouchak crossing at about 3:45pm. Angry demonstrators damaged a number of cars in protest.