The police attacked pickets and arrested more than 200 protesters during the six-hour general strike the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports observed in Dhaka on Sunday in protest at deals signed with US oil company ConocoPhillips.
More than 8,000 lawmen in riot gear, deployed in the capital, attacked every move of pickets and dispersed protesters by charging with truncheons at them, injuring at least 50 people.
In addition to observing the general strike in Dhaka, the committee also went on demonstrations in district towns against the exploration deals. The police obstructed such programmes in many of the areas.
The national committee on the day decided to hold protests on Monday in Dhaka against the government's repressive acts on protesters.
The police severely attacked the protesters on the Dhaka University campus and in alleys of the Topkhana Road and in Purana Paltan where the offices of the left parties are located.
The police began attacking the pickets soon after the strike had begun by picking up top leaders of the national committee.
Towards the end of the strike hours, the police charged with truncheons at the activists of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal in an alley in the Topkhana Road area after sealing off both the ends of the alley.
The party said that at least 50 activists were injured in the police attack and women activists of the party were not spared.
Ten of the injured — Rina, a student of Dhaka University, Munia, a student of Eden College, Masud and Sazzad, students of Titumir College, Swapna Basu, a student of BUET, Chhatra Front leader Moloy Sarkar, Masud Rana, a student of Jagannath University, Tania, a student of Siddheswari College, and Shafique, an activist of the Fatullah unit of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal — were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
On the Dhaka University campus, the police attacked processions of student activists at Shahbagh and Raju Memorial and in the Doyel Square after the students had started a fire with some posters, which were pasted around the Raju Memorial and contained the
photograph of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and damaged three vehicles.
Panic gripped the people in and around the Teachers-Students Centre as the police chased the protesters about 11:00am.
The protesters who took shelter inside the Teachers-Students Centre and Suhrawardy Udyan were not spared.
The police entered the TSC and searched the rooms for protesters. They picked up four people from the office of the Dhaka University Film Society.
The four included former Film Society general secretary Ripon Kumar Das Dhruba, also a vice-president of the university unit Chhatra Union, and Senjuti Nawroz and Mousumi,
The Shahbagh police chief, Rezaul Karim, said that they had detained 30 people, including a former vice-president of the university unit Chhatra Union Syed Faiz Ahmed, during the strike hours. The police, however, released four of them in the afternoon.
Students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology sat in on the BUET campus as the police did not allow them to get out of the campus.
The police about 6:00am cordoned off a small procession of the Biplabi Workers Party on the Topkhana Road and picked up all the protesters who included the party's general secretary Saiful Huq and central leaders Moshreka Aditi, Bahnishikha Jamali.
The national committee's member secretary Anu Muhammad and Communist Party leader Ruhin Hossain Prince were picked up from in front of the Communist Party office and Anu was released later.
Labour leaders Mushrefa Mishu, Zebunnesa Zebu, Jolly Talukder were arrested after from a procession at Bijoynagar area. Ganasanghati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leader Rajekuzzaman Ratan were picked up from Topkhana Road when they were heading for Purana Paltan.
The police cordoned off the protesters, including Anu Muhammad, when the leaders were standing at the entrance of the Communist Party office. The police had cordoned them off till the strike was over.
The police picked up anyone, protesters or passers-by, who went near the policemen, who were cordoning off the leaders at the place.
The Motijheel zone police deputy commissioner, Anwar Hossain, said that they had detained 52 people from Purana Paltan and Bijoynagar. The Uttara police officer-in-charge, Rejaul Karim, said that they had detained 21 people during strike hours.
The police chased away a few activists at Mirpur when they were preparing to bring out a procession.
Shops, markets and educational institutions in most city areas were closed during strike hours. There were buses on some city routes rickshaws all over.
After the strike hours, the national committee at a briefing announced to go on demonstrations in Dhaka on Monday.
The national committee convener, Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, said that more than 200 activists had been arrested and many had been injured in police attack during the strike hours.
He said that the repression the government carried out against the people had proved that it had given an undertaking to a foreign company to allow it to export national resources. 'The government has no hesitation in torturing the activists who were out to protect national interest,' he said.
Anu Muhammad said, 'The police and the Rapid Action Battalion tortured our activists and arrested them. Vehicles ran with the help of ruling party goons. It proves that the government has given an undertaking to the US company.'
He also demanded that the people arrested during the strike should be released.
The CPB president, Manjurul Ahsan Khan and its presidium member Haider Akbar Khan Rano, BSD general secretary Khalequzzman, Workers Party general secretary Anisur Rahman Mallik and Jatiya Gana Front convener Tipu Bishwas attended the briefing.
Source : New Age
