There were no visible signs of dialogue between rival political parties as violence continued to rock Bangladesh on the second day of a hartal on Monday, leaving four people dead and scores injured.
The dead included an opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, a ruling Awami League activist, a teenager and a truck driver.
The nationwide 60-hour strike that began on Sunday morning was called by the opposition combine led by BNP’s Khaleda Zia to force the Sheikh Hasina government to concede their demand for a neutral caretaker government to conduct the next general election.
Opposition activists clashed with police and ruling partymen across Bangladesh. The intensity of the clashes forced authorities to ban unlawful assemblies in Chittagong division’s Chandpur, where the teenager was killed. In Dhaka, an Awami League office was set ablaze. Dozens of vehicles were also set on fire, injuring passengers.
Crude bombs exploded near the house of war crimes tribunal prosecutor Tureen Afroz here on Sunday. A day earlier, bombs had exploded in front of the house of Supreme Court justice S.K. Sinha who was on the bench that handed the death sentence to Jamaat-e-Islami’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla. The house of a plaintiff in the war crimes trial that convicted top Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi also came under attack in Pirojpur.
The offices of several media outlets in Dhaka also came under attack. Several journalists covering the hartal were also targeted.