First phase largely peaceful
Even though there were some stray incidents of violence, the first phase of the Jamaat-called 72-hour nationwide hartal was largely peaceful yesterday.
The strike received a lukewarm response in all the cities including the capital. However, the traffic was lighter than the usual days.
Almost all the educational institutions remained closed yesterday considering safety of the students travelling on the roads.
The hartal also disrupted inter-district road communication across the country, causing sufferings to many.
BNP's key ally Jamaat-e-Islami is enforcing the 72-hour shutdown in two phases protesting the capital punishment of its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, awarded by the war crimes tribunal.
The first phase of three-day hartal ended at 6:00am today. The 48-hour last bout of strike will start at 6:00am on Sunday and end at 6:00am on Tuesday.
During yesterday's hartal, police arrested at least 125 Jamaat-Shibir men across the country, report our correspondents.
A total of 70 crude bombs were recovered and over 50 people including five police personnel were injured in clashes between the law enforcers and strike supporters.
In the capital, hartal supporters set a bus on fire in broad daylight at Kadamtali area on Dhaka-Narayanganj road around 2:00pm. Fire fighters doused the flames later.
No one was injured in the incident, Mostafa Mohsin, station officer of Postogola Fire Service and Civil Defence, told The Daily Star.
A mobile-team of magistrates sentenced four Jamaat-Shibir men to six months' imprisonment as they tried to bring out a procession in the capital's Dakkhin Khan area in the morning, local police station OC Shamim-Ur-Rahman said.
In Matuail around 8:30pm, locals captured one Mehedi Hasan when he was allegedly trying to light a parked bus after pouring petrol on it.
In Rajshahi, police arrested at least 13 leaders and activists of Jamaat-Shibir, including Jamaat's city unit chief Ataur Rahman during yesterday's hartal.
Ataur was arrested as he was involved in the September 18 attack on police at the city's Kajla area, Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Motihar Police Station, said.
The hartal supporters also clashed with police at Katakhali area in Rajshahi after they were barred from blocking the Rajshahi-Natore highway yesterday. Police fired 20 rounds of gas-shells and rubber bullets to disperse them, reports our correspondent.
After the nine-day blockade and hartals from January 1 to 9, people had been almost free from such suffering. Apart from yesterday's hartal, Jamaat in last nine months enforced three-day hartal on two occasions. Besides, its associated student body Islami Chhatra Shibir, the BNP-led 20-party alliance and Sammilito Islami Dalsamuho enforced daylong hartals on August 31, September 22 and 26 on different grounds.
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