At least one person was killed and 40 others injured in separate incidents in Chittagong on the second day of the 60-hour hartal enforced by BNP-led 18-party alliance on Monday.
Police, BNP and Awami League men clashed in the city’s Boropul, Saltgola, City Gate, Dewanhat and Halishahar areas and the district’s Sitakunda, Hathazari, Patiya and Boalkhali upazilas, eye-witnesses and police sources said.
Police said hartal activists on Monday attempted to hold rallies in support of hartal at several places where usually anti-hartal activists hold their rallies. Clashes took place between the two parties over the occupation of venues.
Pro-hartal activists torched at least two vehicles, blasted at least 60 crude bombs and vandalised at least 45 vehicles in the port city and the district’s 14 upazilas, police said.
Police recovered two high-power hand-grenades from the port city’s Boropul area while a total of 30 people were nabbed from different areas in the city and the district for their alleged connection with hartal violence.
Sontosh Kumar Chakma, a sub-inspector at the Bomb Disposal Unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said the recovered grenades were similar to those recovered from a Hefazat madrasa at Lalkhan Bazar recently.
In Satkania upazila, a truck driver, Md Wasim, 32, was killed when pickets hurled brickbats towards his truck at Sadha area around 2am, leaving him critically injured. He succumbed to his injuries at the local upazila
health complex in the morning, said Nazmul Hossain, additional superintendent of police of the Chittagong range south zone.
A case was lodged with Satkania police station in this regard. However, no one was arrested in connection with the incident, said Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of the station.
In Sitakunda upazila, police, AL and BNP men clashed in Amirabad, Dakkhin Bypass and Fowzderhat areas around 9am, leaving 20 people, including seven policemen and two women, injured, said OC SM Badiujjaman of Sitakunda police station.
Syed Iqbal Ali, assistant superintendent of police of Sitakunda circle, was among the seven police men injured by pickets, he said.
Earlier pickets also torched two vehicles and vandalised 10 others in Amirabad area and set fire to several shops in the area, owned by Awami League activists.
In Patiya upazila, eight people including three policemen were injured in a clash between police and hartal supporters at Shantirh around 11:30am, said Additional SP Hossain.
Out of the eight injured, two policemen and a 14-year-old boy received bullet injuries; however, they were out of risk, said Dr Simple Dey, the medical officer of Patiya Upazila Health Complex.
In Hathazari upazila, pickets clashed with police at College Road and Bus Stand areas around 3:30pm, leaving three activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal injured, said OC Liakat Ali of Hathazari upazila.
The clashes took place in several phases and were going on at the time of filing this report.
In Boalkhali upazila, police, Awami League and hartal activists a clash at Fultola area around 11:45pm, said OC Jahirul Haq Sabuj of Boalkhali police station.
Hartal supporters also vandalised at least 10 vehicles in the areas during the violence, police said.
In the port city, pickets blasted at least 50 crude bombs at Nayabazar, Halishahar, Boropul, Dewanhat, Chowmuhani, Kazir Dewri, City Gate, Alangker, Saltgola, Bakalia, Eidgah, Teribazar, Wasa and Bahaddarhat areas in the port city.
Pickets also vandalised at least 15 vehicles at several points of the port city, said police.
BNP-led alliance men locked into a chase-counter chase with Awami League men in the city’s Boropul and Halishahar area in several phases from 10am to 3pm, said OC Shahjahan Kabir of Halishahar police station.
Police fired 75 rounds of gunshots and gas-gun bullets to disperse the pickets, OC Shahjahan said. BNP claimed four of their activists were injured in the clash while police said no casualty was reported.
Awami League and BNP men locked into a clash at Saltgola area in the port city around 11:30am, leaving four including an Awami League activist injured, said OC Jahedul Islam of Bandar police station.
In the port city, presence of vehicles on the roads was thin.
Train services were undisrupted; however, no buses plied on the inter-district routes.
Additional police force, Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were deployed at the city’s important points to evade any untoward situation.
