Hefazat activists clash with police

Leaders and activists of radical group Hifazat-e Islam have clashed with the police in Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj during a nationwide general strike. A man was shot during a clash in Mouchak area of Siddhirganj around 11:30 am Sunday, Superintendent of Police Mohammad Zayedul Alam said. Police identified the injured man as 35-year-old Shakil, manager of Riyadh Furniture in the area.

Hifazat called hartal for Sunday over the death of people in Dhaka, Chattogram and Brahmanbaria in clashes with police on Mar 26 during protests against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Leaders and activists of the Qaumi Madrasa-based organisation blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Narayanganj with tree trunks. The stick-wielding activists burnt tyres on a stretch of road from Mouchak to Shimrail.

Madrasa students block highway

A group of madrasa students blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Sanarpara, Narayanganj, responding to the calls for hartal. The students have gathered on the Sanarpara-Chittagong Road and in the Signboard area since Sunday morning and chanted slogans supporting the hartal. They blocked the road by torching tyres.

Violence left some buses stranded in the Signboard area. Some passengers began to walk to Dhaka from Kanchpur. Police have been deployed to the Chattogram highway. “A few buses had left Sayedabad, but the madrasa students blocked them at Signboard,” said Md Abul Kalam, president of Saydabad Interdistrict Bus Owners Association.

Some Hifazat activists were injured in clashes in the Baitul Mukarram area after the Jummah prayers on Friday. Later, at least four people died in clashes with Chattogram police. Another five were killed in a similar incident in Brahmanbaria on Saturday.

Although the BNP did not formally support the Hifazat strike, it has announced a two-day programme to protest the loss of lives during the clashes. The party will hold rallies and processions in all metropolitan areas, including Dhaka, on Monday and procession or assemblies in the districts on Tuesday.