50 hurt in N'ganj police-pickets clashes

Narayanganj, July 10 (bdnews24.com)?At least 50 people, including 10 policemen, have been injured in a series of clashes between the hartal supporters and lawmen at Fatullah in Narayanganj.

Pro- and anti-hartal activists also clashed at Kanchpur in the district in the early hours of the 30-hour countrywide lockdown, being enforced by 12 parties, mostly Islamist, from 6am on Sunday.

The parties are demanding that 'Absolute Faith and Trust in Allah' be restored in and secularism dropped from the constitution.

Police said pickets had locked into clashes with them at Panchabati of Fatullah since 6:30am as they stopped them taking out processions.

The Kanchpur trouble erupted when shutdown supporters blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Kanchpur bridge point around 8:30am and anti-hartal activists, mainly transport workers, chased them, police said.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at Panchabati, while they fired rubber bullets and charged batons on pickets at Kanchpur to bring the situations under control, superintendent of police (SP) Sheikh Nazmul Alam told reporters.

Three people were also arrested in Panchabati, he added.

A pistol and a shotgun of police also went missing during the clashes, some police officers claimed.

Ten policemen were also injured and about 10 vehicles vandalised during the skirmishes, they added.

Of the injured, additional SP Saidur Rahman Khan and assistant sub-inspector 'Anwar' were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition, they said.

At Kanchpur, hartal supporters, who blocked the highway around 8:30am, clashed with a group of people who had brought out an anti-hartal procession around 9am.

Siddhirganj police officer-in-charge Kamrul Islam Molla said police fired rubber bullets and charged batons to disperse them.

Locals said one 'Tofael', 22, who works at a tailoring shop, was shot in police firing. Kamrul, however, denied to have fired from their weapons.

The road was cleared to traffic at 12:30am.

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