A passenger bus is set ablaze on the northern side of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque during BNP-called blockade on Wednesday evening. sun photo Three more persons were reportedly killed and scores of others wounded, many of them hit by bullet, in a string of violence on Wednesday, the second day of the ongoing non-stop blockade programme. Gangs of blockade supporters went on the rampage, vandalised over 200 vehicles and set ablaze several others in the capital and elsewhere. Two persons, including Juba Dal activist Rubel, were killed in clashes with police in Noakhali. The clash ensued around 5:00pm when police intercepted several thousand BNP men from bringing out a procession in favour of the countrywide blockade. Some 30 others, including policemen, were also wounded in the clash. District Juba Dal general secretary Kamakkha Chandra Das claimed Rubel to be their party activist. Blockaders also went ballistic and broke over 30 shops, three motorbikes and two CNG-run auto-rickshaws there. At one stage, police brought the situation under control by firing teargas shells, rubber bullets and shotguns. In another incident, a person was killed in a clash in Sirajganj the same day. Earlier on Monday, at least four people were killed and scores of others hurt across the country while observing January 5 as ‘democracy protection day’ by Awami League and ‘democracy killing day’ by the BNP-led 20-party alliance. The opposition alliance enforced the road-rail-waterway blockade in protest against the government ban on holding meetings and rallies in the city. In Dhaka, miscreants set a passenger bus of Shikar Paribahan on fire in Shewrapara area around 9:30am. Another bus was set afire on the northern side of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the evening. Firefighters rushed to the spot and doused the flames. However, no casualty was reported in the incident. Blockaders also set fire to a pickup in Madhya Badda area in the evening. Besides, two other passenger buses were torched in Mirpur-1 and its adjacent neighbourhoods. But no causality was, however, reported in the incident. At least three Molotov cocktails were blasted in Gulshan area in the afternoon. Witnesses said the cocktails were hurled at Gulshan-2 kitchen market. Police rushed in, but miscreants managed to flee. Fearing attacks on public and private establishments, law-enforcers, including police, paramilitary BGB and RAB, kept a security vigil on city streets. They were deployed at different strategic points in the capital. Defying blockade, huge vehicles, mostly passenger bus, CNG-run auto-rickshaw and human-hauler, were seen ruling the roads since morning. But like the previous day, no long-haul buses left the capital’s three-inter-district bus terminals—Gabtali, Sayedabad and Mohakhali. Even, traffic jams formed in some places like Jatrabari, Gulistan, Motijheel, Paltan, Shahbagh, Farmgate and Mirpur areas. However, train and launch services remained as usual. Earlier on Tuesday, transport owners and employees’ associations announced to ply their passengers vehicles in defiance of the blockade. No picketing or procession was seen in city streets the same day. But blockaders blasted several home-made bombs at different parts of the capital in the afternoon, creating panic among city-dwellers. Leaders and activists of ruling Awami League and its front organisations took position on streets in a bid to resist the BNP-led alliance’s blockade. In Gaibandha, over 100 vehicles, mostly goods trucks, were vandalised on Dhaka-Rangpur highway in Palasbari from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. Chased by blockaders, some goods-laden trucks lay upended at that time. But the pickets beat up some drivers and helpers who came out of the vehicles. Officer-in-charge Mojibur Rahman Palasbari police station said police brought the situation under control.
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