Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir on Sunday set on fire and vandalized a number of vehicles in capital’s Paltan, Kakrail and Bijoynagar areas, ahead of the Monday hartal enforced by the party.
In Bijoynagar, the rowdy activists of Jamaat and its student affiliate Shibir, set ablaze at least a dozen vehicles including a police microbus at around 2:30pm, said Mohsinur Rahman, a police sub-inspector.
The Jamaat-Shibir activists went on a rampage on the streets soon after the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) 1 fixed July 15 (Monday) as the date to declare a verdict in the case against Ghulam Azam, 1971 war crimes suspect and a former chief of the party.
It has also called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for Monday following the tribunal’s announcement.
In Bijoynagar, officer-in-charge (investigation) Alamgir Hossain, sub-inspector Rakib and sub-inspector Nafiz Hossain sustained injuries when the Jamaat-Shibir men set fire to a police van.
Alamgir was sent to the Rajarbagh police line hospital.
Around a dozen vehicles were set ablaze in Paltan, Kakrail and Bijoynagar areas between 2:30pm and 3:30pm.
On information, two units of the fire service and civil aviation division rushed to the scene and doused the flames on the police vehicle.
Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge of Paltan police, said they had already started raids to nab the people responsible for the vandalism and violence. Additional law enforcers were deployed across the Bijoynagar and Paltan areas to avert further deterioration of the situation.
Besides these rampages, two crude bombs were reportedly exploded at Malibagh intersection while the Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out two brisk processions in Moghbazar.
In Chittagong, Jamaat-Shibir activists locked in a clash with law enforcers creating panic in the city. The clash erupted when members of law enforcement agencies obstructed a procession brought out by the Jamaat-Shibir activists near BRTC intersection around 5:45pm.
Police lobbed tear-shells and fired several bullets to disperse the Jamaat-Shibir activists when the protesters in return hurled brick-chips to the law enforcers.
During the clash, the Jamaat-Shibir activists ransacked over a dozen vehicles, said Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf, assistant commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP).
Till filling this story at 6:40pm, the situation was not completely under control.