Clashes, arson mark first day of hartal
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and activists were injured, 16 of them with shotgun pellets, when a BNP procession came under gun attack at Senbagh.
Senbagh municipality BNP member Mofizul Islam alleged that a group of Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League men arrived on three-wheelers around 8:30am and opened fire on their peaceful procession on the Feni-Noakhali highway.
The injured had treatment at local clinics while some are taking treatment at home to avoid police harassment, BNP sources said.
Officer-in-Charge Nazim Uddin of Senbagh Police Station said the clash may have happened between the followers of BNP’s Zainul Abedin Farooq and Kazi Mofiz.
“No one informed the police about the attack or shooting incident,” he said.
In Sunamganj, BNP activists clashed with police in the municipality area yesterday morning after the law enforcers obstructed a procession. Police used shotguns and teargas to control the situation.
The pickets threw stones and brick chunks at police.
At least seven BNP men, five police officers and two journalists were injured.
Nurul Islam Nurul, general secretary of Sunamganj BNP, said, “Police obstructed and attacked our peaceful procession and at least seven BNP men were injured.”
In Gazipur’s Sreepur, a classroom of Gilashawar Abdul Jabbar Government Primary School was partially burnt when arsonist set it on fire around 3:30am yesterday.
Several benches, some windows, and furniture were burnt, said Sreepur Upazila Assistant Education Officer Harunur Rashid.
In another arson attack, three carriages of the Jamuna Express were torched in Jamalpur’s Sarishabari around 1:20am yesterday.
Sub Inspector Tara Mia at the Jamalpur Railway Station said criminals set fire to the running train soon after it left Sarishabari Railway Station, halting rail service on the Jamalpur-Dhaka route for five hours.
There were a few passengers onboard.
Pickets in Sarishabari’s Bagarpar area attacked journalist Moshiur Rahman, upazila correspondent of Channel S and Daily Bangladeshi Khabar. They also tried to set his motorbike on fire.
In Jashore, some 20 crude bombs exploded near the home of former minister Tariqul Islam. No one was injured.
In Pabna, hartal supporters vandalised two vehicles and exploded crude bombs in Boro Bazar area.
A person was injured around 9:30pm after a crude bomb went off about 100 metres from the Awami League central office on Bangabandhu Avenue.
Injured Riyadul Rashid, 40, claimed to be a member of Jubo League ward-13 unit.
Two more bombs exploded in front of Wari Police Station around 8:10pm, said its Officer-in-Charge Mostazirur Rahman.
Maksuda Begum, 55, who went to see her detained son at the station, was injured.