Staff Reporter :The dawn to dusk nationwide shutdown called by the BNP -led 20 party alliance on Monday was marked by sporadic clashes, chase and counter chases between the police and protesters in different parts of the country. At least one person was killed and 50 others were injured during the hartal, which was called by the alliance protesting the restrictions on Gazipur rally where BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was scheduled to address. BNP also registered its protest against arrest of party’s standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Jubo Dal president Moazzem Hossain Alal.Police so far have arrested about 150 persons from different parts of the country during hartal hours. Of them, BNP Sylhet City Unit Convener Dr Shahriar Hossain Chowdhury along with two activists of party’s student wing, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal [JCD], from Sylhet’s Chowhatta Point. In a tragic incident, a female school teacher was killed when pickets hurled brick chips at her in Noakhali during hartal hours in the morning. The victim was identified as Shamsunnahar, 36 of Charporagacha union of Ramgati upazila in Laxmipur. She was a teacher of Agargaon Towhid Laboratory School in Dhaka.According to police, the incident took place on Maijdee-Begumganj road in the district town around 08:45am when the woman teacher and her husband Shahjahan Siraj were travelling to Ramgati from Dhaka by a covered van.Her husband Shajahan Siraj, who works in American Life Insurance Company, was also injured in the attack. Siraj was recently transferred to Noakhali. He was moving there in a covered van with his wife and two sons. His wife sustained serious injuries in her head when pickets threw brick chips at her.She was taken to Noakhali Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College Hospital with profuse bleeding due to head injuries. But the on duty doctors declared her dead.Sudharam police OC Anowar Hossain said the hartal pickets hurled stones at the van hitting Shamsunnahar on the head. Meanwhile, the pickets locked in clashes with police, vandalised vehicles, and exploded improvised bombs in the capital city Dhaka and some other parts of the country. At least one person was injured in police firing during clashes in Mirpur yesterday morning. Pallabi police OC Ziauzzaman said a group of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists started vandalising vehicles in the morning. “The pickets hurled stones and fought pitched battles with police. The police responded with baton charge, rubber bullets, and buckshots. A man, injured in buckshot, has been sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital,” said the OC.A heavy contingent of riot police along with the members of RAB and other agencies took position around the BNP central office at Naya Paltan and some other strategic areas in the early morning. A police riot car, a water canon vehicle and a prison van were parked in front of party headquarter.Besides, the security personnel had imposed restriction on the opposition activists to bring out any procession in support of haratal, and also obstructed party leaders approaching the BNP office at that time.JCD activists blasted four cocktails in BIRDEM lane at Segunbagicha in the capital in the morning. Witnesses said some 10-12 activists of Chhatra Dal brought out a procession in the area and blasted the cocktails at 10:30am. In another incident, the police nabbed at least 11 persons on suspicion from in front of BNP central office in city’s Naya Paltan area during hartal hours.Sub-Inspector [SI] Mansur Ahmed said that they were held on suspicion. They were brought to Paltan Thana for questioning, he added. In the meanwhile, Sylhet Kotwali Model Thana police held city BNP unit Convener Dr Shahriar Hossain Chowdhury along with two activists of its student wing JCD from Chowhatta Point. Protesting the arrest, BNP has called a half-day hartal on Tuesday in Sylhet. District joint convener Dilder Hossain Selim made the strike announcement at a rally, held at Judge Court area in the city, yesterday morning.During the hartal hours, the city bus service was partially disrupted though some private vehicles were seen running on the roads. However, the rickshaws plied on the city roads as usually. On the other hand, hundreds of passengers suffered a lot as inter-district bus services remained fully stranded on the terminals. A few buses departed Mahakhali, Syedabad and Gabtoli Bus Terminals early in the morning.The authorities of Bangladesh Railway and Biman Bangladesh have claimed their services remained uninterrupted, but passengers faced serious trouble to reach the station and airport. Besides, the cargo operations at the ports in Chittagong and Mongla were partially hampered due to the strike.Officials of Sadarghat Terminal said the launches left the terminal in the early morning but the number of passengers was small.
