The countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, protesting at attacks on its Saturday grand rally at Naya Paltan in Dhaka, is now underway across the country.
Reports received from most of the areas of the country said that picketers were hardly seen on the roads amid huge presence of members of law enforcement agencies while the picketers were dispersed by the police in Cumilla, Sylhet, Bogura and Lalmonirhat.
Reports received from different corners in Dhaka said that the public transports and private cars were thin on the roads while most of the educational institutions and financial establishments are kept open.
During the hartal hours, a bus was torched at the south gate of Baitul Mukarran National Mosque in the city.
Banks and financial institutions were seen open at different places of the city.
Huge number of police was seen in front of the central office of BNP at about 8:30pm.
A group of BNP activists brought out a procession at Mahakhali but ended within a short period, witnesses said.
BNP and its likeminded parties and alliances are now on movement to press home their one-point demand for resignation of the government, dissolving the parliament and holding the next general election under a non-partisan caretaker government.
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh joined police and Raoid Action Battalion to patrol the capital city during the hartal hours.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan confirmed that rail communication at Kamalapur Railway Station is being operated normally.
Launch operation at Sadarghat terminal was seen as normal but there were few passengers.
Jamaat-e-Islami also announced hartal for today.
UNB reported that leaders and activists of Jamaat brought out a procession in the city's Madartek area around 8:00am today in support of the hartal.
On Saturday, BNP called the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for today suspending its grand rally at Nayapaltan in the capital halfway following violent clashes between law enforcers and opposition activists that killed at least two people, including a police constable, and injured over 1,000 other people.
