Protest, clash, arrest mark BNP strike
ET Report

A miscreant beats up BNP lawmaker Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie in front of members of law enforcing agency at Shahbag area during the strike called by the BNP

The dawn-to-dusk general strike, enforced by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was observed on Sunday amid action by ruling party activists and the police on pickets and arrests of a huge number of BNP leaders and activists across the country.
A standing committee member and some advisers to the party chief were also arrested.
The party's secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain at a briefing after the strike, enforced across the country, announced to go out on demonstrations today in protest at the attack on pickets and the wholesale arrests.
He said more than 1,000 people were arrested across the country and 500 became severely injured in attacks by the police and ruling party men.
The party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, at night held a review meeting with the party's standing committee members present in Dhaka and discussed the party's next course of action with them.
The police charged truncheons and fired teargas shells to disperse the pickets across the capital.
The police action resulted in a pitched battle as the pickets fought back with stones. Alongside the police, activists of the ruling Awami League and its associate body of students Chhatra League also attacked the pickets at Shahbagh and Badda and in Old Town of Dhaka.
The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, at a rally in Paltan Maidan on May 19 announced to enforce the general strike as part of its programmes to register protest at power, water and gas shortage, 'oppression' on opposition leaders and activists, closing of media houses, 'torture' on newsmen, the government's attempts to 'control' the media, violence over tender manipulation, land grab by the ruling party men, harassment of girls in educational institutions, politicisation of the administration and signing of deals with foreign countries 'compromising national interest.'
Violent protests took place in the capital and in a number of other places such as Barisal and Lalmonirhat. The strike was by and large peaceful elsewhere. The BNP's allies also extended support for the strike but they did not deploy any pickets at least in the capital.
Road communications were disrupted as no motor vehicles plied the highways. A few buses plied the city roads with a small number of passengers.
Railway and air communications were almost normal but the number of passengers was poor.
River communications were also almost normal but a number of launches cancelled their trips for want of passengers. Rickshaws plied the roads as usual.
Private offices, banks, business establishments and shops remained shut. Attendance in the Bangladesh Secretariat was less than usual. The number of women staff was thin as many had gone on leave and some others came later.
In a series of clashes in the capital, many people, including policemen and journalists, were injured. BNP lawmaker and student affairs secretary of the party, Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie and Eden College unit Chhatra Dal leader Poppy Aktar were admitted to hospital with serious injuries.
The police picked up more than 200 people, including a standing committee member of the party, the chairperson's adviser, city ward councillor, and women, from places in the city on charges of picketing.
The police clubbed the pickets in places such as Shahbagh, Badda, Jatrabari, Shahjahanpur, Kaptan Bazar in Old Town and at Dhanmondi, Pallabi and Mirpur.
Lawmaker Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie and several other Chhatra Dal leaders were injured as the police and Chhatra League activists attacked a small BNP rally in the Shahbagh crossing about 7:30am.
Policemen in riot gears simultaneously charged at them with truncheons and pushed them into the compound of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. The Chhatra League men also threw stones at the activists who took shelter inside the BSMMU compound.
A few minutes later, the university employees loyal to the Awami League also attacked the pickets accusing them of vandalising an ambulance.
Annie and Poppy sustained serious injuries and they were admitted to hospital. Eight more were released after being given first aid. The police arrested Annie at the BSMMU hospital compound and then took him to United Hospital at Gulshan.
Immediately after, the members on the university staff loyal to the Awami League looked for BNP men 'hiding' in wards and informed the police of their whereabouts.
As the police mistakenly clubbed a section officer of the university, Suman Das, the staff began rioting with police. The injured Suman was admitted to the hospital.
The police arrested the BNP's standing committee member Mirza Abbas at Shahjahanpur when he was making preparations to bring out a procession. The arrest sparked off violent clashes between the party activists and the police.
The police and the Rapid Action Battalion later cordoned off the AGB Colony and charged at the people with truncheons indiscriminately.
The battalion personnel also stormed into the house of Mirza Abbas at Shahjahanpur and went on the rampage and beat up the members of the family, including his mother-in-law who is about 100 years old, Abbas's wife Afroza Abbas, alleged.
Khaleda visited Abbas's mother-in-law in his house at night.
Plainclothesmen at Mohakhali arrested the BNP chairperson's adviser Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, also a former foreign secretary, after charging at pickets with truncheons in front of Titumir College.
The police and pickets picked up quarrels several times at the spot, giving rise to tension. At one point, the police charged at the BNP activists with truncheons, in which four to five were injured.
The police also picked up seven more activists of the BNP and Islami Chhatra Shibir from the area.
The police at Karwan Bazar stopped the BNP men when they tried to bring out a procession and picked up Abdul Mannan, also a former minister, and the chairperson's adviser Ahmed Azam Khan.
Both Mannan and Azam Khan, along with four others, were released on bail after they had been produced in the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate by the police seeking them to be remanded for seven days for interrogation.
The police kept the house of former minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku cordoned where Juba Dal president Moazzem Hossian Alal along with some activists were preparing to go picketing. Some plainclothesmen picked up street children and took them away in a pick-up van.
The police charged with truncheons at pickets at Kaptan Bazar as they brought out a procession. The pickets also pelted the lawmen with stones and fired teargas shells. The police at Dhanmondi dispersed the BNP men, led by MK Anawar, by charging at them with truncheons.
The situation was calm at the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan as the police allowed the BNP men to demonstrate on the Inner Circular Road after sealing the road stretch with roadblocks on the ends at Kakrail and Fakirapool.
The police arrested six people at Shyampur, six at Jatrabari, five at Jagannath University, five at Bangshal and three at Kadamtali when they were trying to go out on demonstrations.
Reports from Lalmonirhat said at least 50 leaders and activists were injured in the town as the police and the ruling Awami League men attacked pickets in several places. The police also arrested five BNP activists.
The strike was peaceful in Chittagong and the police arrested 16 pickets at different points. Motor vehicles stayed off the road but rickshaws plied as usual.