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Cops, pickets clash on hartal day

Staff Correspondent
Clashes between police and prohartal activists and damage of a number of vehicles by pickets in the capital marked the dawn-to-dusk hartal across the country yesterday, enforced by main opposition Awami League (AL).
Police fired rubber bullets, teargas shells and charged batons on pro-hartal processions and picked up at least 77 activists, 32 of them women, from different places in the city during the 6:00am to 6:00pm shutdown.
At least 30 women activists of Jubo Mahila League, a front organisation of the AL, were picked up from a pro-hartal rally and beaten up by police at Dhanmondi Police Station. Journalists were not allowed to enter the police station but they heard from outside the groans of the activists.
During the shutdown, around 40 opposition activists were injured in clashes with police, four of them hit by rubber bullets.
A photojournalist and a police constable were also injured in the incidents.
Pickets poured petrol on a CNG-run autorickshaw and set it afire at Khilgaon in the morning. Driver of the vehicle Amir Hossain suffered burns and was admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
The main opposition called the hartal, second in four days, to protest the killing of Khorshed Alam Bachchu, a front line leader of the AL's city unit. Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) supported the shutdown.
The previous hartal was enforced in the capital on Thursday.
The shutdown drew criticism from different quarters as the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations were postponed due to the stoppage, affecting about five lakh examinees.
CLASHES IN OLD PART OF DHAKA
At Lalbagh, riot police charged baton and fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse pickets, leaving about 25 opposition activists injured.
Police chased an AL procession near Lalbagh Fort at about 11:20am. Pickets retaliated throwing brickbats at police. Another procession on Harnath Ghosh Road at about the same time attacked police, prompting the law enforcers to fire tear gas shells and rubber bullets.
Police constable Foyez Ahmad suffered eye injuries when hit by a brickbat and was admitted to Razarbagh Police Hospital.
Opposition activists Anu, Monir Mollick, Jahangir and Monu Miah, hit and injured by rubber bullets, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
Police picked up at least 11 people from the spot.
Earlier, police cordoned off a gathering organised by Haji Selim, former AL lawmaker from Lalbagh area.
Police also used batons to foil city AL leader Sayeed Khokon's bid to bring out a procession near the District Judge's Court at about 10:30am.
DHANMONDI, BANGABANDHU AVENUE AND OTHER AREAS
A Juba Mahila League procession led by Apu Ukil in Dhanmondi at about 11:30 am came under police baton charge. The law enforcers, both male and female, assaulted the women pickets, dragged at least 30 onto police van and took them to Dhanmondi Police Station. Police beat them up there.
When contacted, the duty officer at the police station declined to talk.
A press release of the Jubo Mahila League alleged that a subinspector at the police station, Ramiz, assaulted the female activists inside the police station. At least 18 of them were shifted to Ramna Police Station at about 2:00pm and beaten up again, it added.
A procession led by AL leader and former minister Motia Chowdhury came under police attack at about 9:30am when it tried to enter the cordoned off AL central office on Bangabandhu Avenue. Police charged batons on the opposition loyalists.
Fazlur Rahman, a cameraman of private television channel ntv, was injured in the police action.
Agitated demonstrators damaged a number of passenger buses, private cars and CNG-run autorickshaws plying the streets during the hartal in different areas including Shantinagar, Motijheel and Mipur.
BUSINESSES HAMPER
Most shops, schools, banks, businesses and the stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong remained closed due to the hartal while cargohandling at the seaports suffered heavily.
In the capital, a large number of passenger buses plied the streets, much more than on previous hartal days. Presence in government offices was almost normal but private firms in commercial areas like Motijheel remained closed.
Presence of opposition leaders and activists on the streets was less.
Around 7,000 law enforcers including paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles personnel fanned out across the capital to head off possible violence.
OTHER PLACES
Our staff correspondent in Sylhet reports that police baton-charged a procession of district AL near the city's court point, leaving at least 10 injured.
Our staff correspondent reports from Chittagong: Hartal was observed in the port city partially. No pickets were seen on the streets during hartal hours.
Reports received from Rajshahi, Rangpur and Gopalganj said local units of the AL brought out processions in support of the hartal.