Two more killed as blockade continues

Two more opposition activists were shot dead on Wednesday as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance continued countrywide non-stop blockade for the second consecutive day and fought pitched battles with law enforcers at places. Road communications between Dhaka and rest of the country remained cut off, while trains and ferries operated almost as usual. The killing of the two in Feni on Wednesday took to seven the number of opposition people killed after the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, announced the countrywide non-stop blockade on Monday. Khaleda announced the blockade following her confinement to her Gulshan office by the law enforcers and ban on rallies in Dhaka and at places across the country to thwart rallies the alliance had planned for Monday marking the anniversary of the January 5, 2014 general elections boycotted by all opposition parties. Transport services in the capital were almost normal on Wednesday morning and afternoon. The public transports, however, reduced at evening when several vehicles were set on fire and vandalised. Hundreds of people had to suffer waiting for hours for buses after getting out of workplaces.

Bus services in some districts operated in a limited scale amid stray incidents of violence. In addition to blockade, the BNP-led alliance also enforced dawn-to-dusk general strike in eight districts— Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh — of Rangpur division protesting against the arrest of acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Almost all the shops and educational institutions remained closed and all modes of vehicles remained off the roads in the districts. The BNP-led alliance, meanwhile, called a dawn-to-dusk  general strike in Sylhet city, Barisal city and Noakhali and Jessore districts for today. The Sylhet BNP called the strike protesting at the confinement of Khaleda Zia and arrest of Fakrul. The Jamaat-backed Islami Chhatra Shibir called a half-day hartal in Barisal district protesting at the arrest of its 12 leaders. BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Wednesday said the countrywide transport blockade would continue until the alliance made a fresh decision in this regard. Protesters clashed with the police at places, including Noakhali, Jhalakati, Bogra, Feni, Lakshmipur and Hajiganj in Chandpur. New Age correspondent in Noakhali reported that two opposition activists were shot dead and 20 others were injured when the police opened fire on pickets in Chaumuhuni level crossing area at Begumganj in Noakhali on Wednesday evening. Witnesses said that the pickets blocked the level crossing area on Chaumuhuni-Feni road at about 5:15pm and set four motorcycles on fire. They also vandalised five battery-run three-wheelers and several rickshaws. Police chased the pickets triggering a clash. The pickets threw brickbats and the police fired bullets that left Md Rubel, 28, and Mohammad Mohsin critically injured. Rubel and Mohsin were rushed to Noakhali Abdul Malek Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them dead. At least 12 vehicles were set on fire at places in the capital and across the country. Of them, four were torched in Dhaka, three in Jessore, two each in Gazipur and Bogra and one in Sylhet. A covered van of a courier service and a battery-run rickshaw were vandalised on Tuesday night in Barisal city. On Wednesday evening, unidentified people set on fire and vandalised vehicles at Azimpur, Badda, Paltan, Mirpur and in front of Jagannath University.

The police arrested over 200 opposition activists across the country including 45 in Jessore on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Two councillors of Narayanganj City Corporation, Mohammad Sultan and Hannan Sarker, were arrested in front of the High Court in the capital on Wednesday morning in connection with Monday’s clash between BNP men and police at Bandar upazila. The number of passengers at Sadarghat ferry terminal was less than usual although ferry services were almost normal. Habibur Rahman, a transport worker of Sonar Bangla Paribahan, which plies from the capital’s Mohakhali Bus Terminal to Sherpur, said that a few buses left the terminal on Wednesday morning under police protection. Some buses left Saidabad terminal for Comilla and Munshiganj. Trains operated normally and overcrowded and all scheduled trains left Kamalapur railway station for different destinations, said Kamalapur railway station manager Khairul Bashir. The home ministry on Wednesday sent a letter to the Bangladesh Ansar and VDP to appoint 4,000 ansar members at risky points in 40 districts to ensure security of the railway tracks. Leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and its front organisations, however, were not found taking position at significant points of Dhaka on Wednesday as they did on Tuesday to foil the blockade. New Age correspondent in Noakhali reported that at least five pickets sustained bullet injuries during a clash with the police in front of Poura Kalyan High School under Sadar upazila. Sudharam model police station officer-in-charge Anwar Hossain said that pickets made obstacle on the road at about 1:00pm with bricks. The police fired bullets when pickets threw brick bats at them as they were removing the bricks put on highway, he said.

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