Journos come under attack during hartal

At least five journalists, including a district correspondent of The Daily Star, were assaulted in three incidents during hartal hours yesterday.
Habibur Rahman, Pirojpur correspondent of The Daily Star, and Sirajul Islam of Bangla daily Khabarpatra came under attack by the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in Zianagar upazila of the district around 1:00pm.
The victims said three BCL activists led by Saiful Islam Jemi, joint secretary of Shankarpasha union unit, on a motorbike chased them when they were passing through Sankarpasha union on a motorbike.
At one stage, the newsmen were knocked off their motorbike in front of the village home of local Awami League lawmaker AKMA Awal.
The BCL men beat them up with steel pipes and bamboo sticks, alleging that the journalists had taken snaps of their clash with BNP activists in the upazila an hour before.
They vandalised their motorbike and snatched their money.
Meanwhile, Labual Haque Ripon, who works for local Bangla daily Somajer Kotha, was injured by Jamaat-Shibir men at Rupdia Bazar on Jessore-Khulna highway yesterday morning, our Jessore correspondent reports.
Ripon said he was going to his office at Basundia on a motorbike.
The attackers snatched his laptop and set his motorbike ablaze.
Journalists in Jessore town brought out a procession and formed a human chain at Daratana intersection protesting the attack.
Our Jahangirnagar University correspondent reports: Ahad Sajal of online news portal bdnews24.com and Khalidun Ratul of daily Shokaler Khabor were assaulted by police in the JU central play ground around 8:00am.
The victims said cops led by Sub-Inspector Rakib of Ashulia Police Station chased them when they were covering the news of police firing on some JCD activists.
Police seized their identity cards and tried to force them out of the campus, threatening to shoot them.
Jahangirnagar University Journalists Association formed a human chain on the campus protesting the assault on the reporters.