The countrywide hartal and the second day of the fifth spell of opposition-enforced blockade for 48 hours are underway on Thursday across Bangladesh.
The hartal and the second day of the blockade began after reports of untoward incidents and violence at the night following Wednesday.
The opposition leaders also alleged police raids to nab the opposition leaders and activists at places in the country.
The Left Democratic Alliance and the Ganatantra Mancha separately announced half-day hartal for Thursday protesting against the Election Commission’s Wednesday announcement of next general election schedule before dissolving the ongoing political crisis.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies in their one-point movement called the fifth spell of countrywide blockade demanding resignation of the government, dissolving the parliament and holding the next general election under a neutral government.
Reports received from all the divisional headquarters and a number of districts said that no bus left the cities and towns for Dhaka while New Age Staff Correspondents from three major terminals in the capital, quoting staff at the ticket counters, reported that long route buses did not leave the terminal in the morning.
The buses did not leave the terminals for want of passengers, the reports referred to the staff at the terminals. The trains left Dhaka as per schedule.
Though the presence of vehicles on the roads is much lower than that of normal days, it is higher than the previous spells of blockade, they reported.
Additional police forces were deployed on the roads and key installations in the city and elsewhere in the country to avoid any untoward incident.
Road communication between Dhaka and rest of the country nearly snapped with vehicles rarely moved on the highways, like the previous four spells of the blockade.
A few buses left for neighbouring districts from these terminals with few passengers.
Visiting four schools in the capital, it was found that the annual examinations were going on as per schedule.
New Age correspondent in Tangail reported that a Dhaka-bound commuter train was set on fire at Tangail Railway Station at Gharinda at about 3:00am on Thursday.
The BNP claimed that the police have increased raids and arrests of its leaders and activists with over 12,000 arrested across the country in three weeks until Wednesday.
The BNP brought out processions at different spots including Azimpur and Mirpur supporting the blockade.source: newage
