Banking activities were heavily disrupted yesterday, particularly in Dhaka, amidst violence flaring up on the first day of a non-cooperation movement declared by protesters.

Private offices and businesses also faced difficulties in carrying out their activities commuting inside the city because of clashes between ruling party activists, law enforcement agencies, and demonstrating students that led to the killing of at least 50 people and injuries for scores of others.

The presence of customers at banks was significantly low. Clients, except for emergencies such as for cash withdrawals, avoided visiting branches. Several banks kept shutters of their branches down amid security concerns, according to bankers.

"We have never seen such a low presence of clients," said a senior official of a private bank in Motijheel, the city's commercial district, adding that about a dozen customers took service from the branch until noon yesterday.

"Most of the customers came at the beginning of office hours. Literary, there was no customer after midday," said an official of another bank.

Ahmed Ali, a resident in the Indira Road area in Dhaka, said he tried to go to a branch of Standard Chartered Bank at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka at about 1:30pm but was compelled to return home as Karwan Bazar turned into a battleground between protesters and ruling party activists.

As the situation became tense in the second half of the day, many officials of the central bank and commercial banks were seen leaving office.

An official of Dutch-Bangla Bank, seeking anonymity, said there was no formal instruction to leave their workstations before office hours, but most officials have left for homes as customer presence was significantly low.

Many bankers were also seen absent from their duties as they could not commute from their residences because of a lack of transports in the city.

Md Shafiqul Islam, manager of a branch of Sonali Bank in Motijheel, said officials, who completed their work early, left office early.

He said, as the government announced a fresh curfew from 6:00pm, the officials who live quite a distance away have left early.

Like the bankers, very little activities were carried out at private offices in the capital yesterday.

Sabbir Ahmed, an official of a travel agency in Dhaka, said they did not get a single client yesterday. So only two officials were on duty out of 20.

Hasibur Rahman, a resident in Raja Bazar area in Dhaka, said a water tap in the house was broken but he could not find any plumber.

"As this type of shop remained closed, I have collected mobile numbers and called two of the plumbers but none wanted to come for security reasons," he added.

Foisal Hossain, an official of Delta Life Insurance in Gulshan, said he went to the office on time but left for home along with his colleagues early on safety concerns.