Over 400 injured on second day of hartal

More than 400 people, including police and journalists, were injured in violence across the country on the second day of the 60-hour-long hartal on Tuesday.

Pro-hartal pickets uprooted railway tracks, damaged and looted more than 100 homes, shops and offices and exploded around 250 crude bombs.

Police fired around 200 rounds of bullets and teargas canisters and arrested around 100 pickets.

At least 20 homes and 50 business centres were looted in Netrokona and 12 shops, all of them belonging to members of the Hindu community, were ransacked in Lalmonirhat.

In Kishoreganj, at least 150 people including policemen were injured as BNP-Jamaat activists clashed with Awami League men in Bhairab, Bazitpur and Kuliarchar upazilas in the morning.

Police foiled a procession of hartal supporters by charging batons and firing several rounds of rubber bullets in Bhairab, Bazitpur and Kuliarchar.

Police also dispersed a procession of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the student front of BNP, in Bazitpur at 11:30am.

In Chittagong, clashes between police and pickets left at least 13 people, including nine policemen and two journalists, injured. The pickets threw 50 crude bombs and vandalised 20 vehicles at different places in the district.

Police fired at least 50 rounds of teargas shells, shot gun bullets and rubber bullets and detained 25 people for hartal violence.

In the capital, more than 100 crude bombs were exploded in different areas of the capital’s Karwanbazar, Hatirjheel, Aftabnagar, Moghbazar, Rampura, Gulshan, Mohakhali, Khilgaon, Pallabi, Mirpur, Shakharibazar, Lakkhibazar and Bangshal.

Five Awami League members were injured in a crude bomb blast in Motijheel.

Jubo Dal activist Md Akram Hoossain, 40, was arrested for his alleged involvement with the attack.

In Chandpur at least 50 people were injured in a three-hour-long clash between Awami League and BNP from 11am at Baharia Bazar in Sadar upazila where 10 shops were vandalised. At least 30 of the injured were AL men and the rest were from BNP.

In Barisal, pro-hartal activists torched two buses, damaged four others and hurled three crude bombs while police fired 11 shots and arrested four from the spot.

In Khulna, around 30 pickets were arrested for attacking on police members on Sunday at Baka Bazar.

Railway communications on the Dhaka-Mymensingh route remained suspended for an hour when pickets removed 12 pins of a railway slipper on at Baghailyabari under Sreepur upazila around 5pm.