3-day countrywide blockade marked by clashes, arson, vandalism

The three-day countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP, the Jamaat-e-Islami and other opposition parties was marked by clashes and widespread incidents of torching and vandalising vehicles.

Four people—three in Kishoreganj and one in Sylhet—were killed while around three dozen of vehicles were either torched or vandalised during the road-rail-waterway blockade.

The blockade that began at 6am on Tuesday ended at 6pm on Thursday.

Law enforcers detained more than 50 leaders and activists of the BNP and other opposition parties across the country on the third day of the blockade.

Movement of long-route buses was very thin on the highways all over the country but intra-district bus service was noticeable during the blockade.

The final day‍‍`s blockade was also marked by some stray incidents like clashes, vandalism, arson and violence like the previous two days.

The gathering of people on the streets marked a rise on Thursday compared to the past two days.

The opposition leaders and activists were seen picketing on different roads across the country, including in the capital, to enforce the blockade.

 At least 34 incidents of arson were reported across Bangladesh during the three days of blockade, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department. 

On the first day of the blockade, at least four BNP men were killed, over 100 injured, 500 detained and hundreds of vehicles torched in the country.

Of them, three BNP supporters were killed in clashes among police, Awami League and BNP in Kishoreganj’s Kuliarchar and Bhairab upazilas. 

In Kuliarchar, BNP men Billal Mia, 30, son of Kajal Mia, and Refayet Ullah, 20, son of Kausar Mia, both residents of Chausuti Union, were killed in a tripartite clash among the police, Awami League and BNP.

In Bhairab, one Ashique, 42, a member of ward No.7 of BNP‍‍`s Bhairab municipal unit, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kishoreganj‍‍`s Bajitpur after he was injured by a tear gas shell fired by police to disperse party activists in the upazila.

Another Jubo Dal man Ziaur Rahman was killed in Sylhet when police chased him on the first day of the blockade. 

Moreover, hundreds of BNP-Jamaat men and opposition parties were injured in clashes with police and law enforcers in Kishoreganj, Bogura, Sylhet, Chattogram, Feni, Barishal, and other parts of the country. 

Of them, Kishoreganj and Bogura turned into battlefields on the first day. 

The second-day blockade was marked by clashes, vandalism and torching of vehicles in Dhaka and elsewhere on Wednesday.

Law enforcers detained more than 100 leaders and activists of the BNP and other opposition parties across the country. 

The opposition leaders and activists were seen picketing on different roads across the country, including in the capital, to enforce the blockade. They also engaged in clashes with the law enforcers in different districts, including Dhaka, Bogura, Feni and Sylhet.

At least five buses were set on fire since Wednesday in parts of the capital amid the blockade.

Besides, several vehicles were torched across the country on the second day.

On the last day, miscreants set fire to five vehicles and vandalised three more in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Feni and Chattogram.