People ignore Jamaat's hartal in Ctg

A daylong hartal called by Jamaat-e-Islami flopped as most of the roadside shops remained open and all types of vehicles plied the streets in Chittagong city yesterday.
The Chittagong Port operated smoothly as loading and unloading at different jetties and outer anchorage was normal, said port authorities.
Thousands of people joined the sit-in programme before the Chittagong Press Club for the fourth consecutive day yesterday demanding capital punishment to all the war criminals. They also brought out an anti-hartal procession and paraded different city streets.
On Thursday, the Islamist party announced the strike for Chittagong and three hill districts after the Chittagong Metropolitan Police refused permission to hold a rally in the port city.
The shutdown passed off peacefully except for a few stray incidents of violence by pro-hartal pickets.
Presence in government, autonomous and corporate offices was almost normal. Transactions in commercial banks ran as usual.
All the trains from Chittagong Railway Station left on time, said sources.
However, the educational institutions and shopping malls remained closed.
In the morning, pickets vandalised a bus and a pick-up van in Sholoshahar and Halishahar areas.
They also tried to torch an auto-rickshaw around 11:45am, but left the scene immediately after being chased by the law enforcers, said Pranab Adhikari, officer-in-charge of Halishahar Police Station.
At 7:00am, some 50 Jamaat-Shibir men brought out a procession from the jail road and walked around 100 yards towards Laldighi area.