Left Parties' Six-hour Hartal
50 hurt in pepper, teargas sprays
Police baton charge hartal activists in front of the office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) in the capital's Paltan yesterday. The six-hour countrywide shutdown, 6:00am to 12:00pm, was enforced to protest recent hike of fuel and electricity prices. Photo: STAR
At least 50 people were injured as massive use of water canons and pepper and teargas sprays marked the six-hour countrywide hartal enforced by leftist parties yesterday to protest recent hike of fuel and power prices. Police used the sprays to disperse pro-hartal activists in the capital's Paltan and Shahbagh where the pickets and police chased each other. The stray incidents apart, the shutdown passed off peacefully in several districts. Garment Sramik Oikya Parishad President Moshrefa Mishu, one of the injured hartal activists, told The Daily Star last evening, "I thought I went blind. The burning sensation spread from my eyes to ears, nose, throat and whole body. Parts of my face are still burning even after 10 hours." A specialist doctor at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where Mishu took treatment, said there was a high possibility of her cornea going to be damaged. If it was sprayed on her again, she would go blind, he said. Protesting the use of the harmful sprays, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) and Gonotantrik Bam Morcha, an alliance of seven left-leaning parties, which enforced the hartal, will stage countrywide demonstration today. In the capital, the protest programme will take place in front of Jatiya Press Club between 3:30pm and 4:00pm. The hartal enforcers also demanded Home Minister MK Alamgir be suspended. The minister told journalists, "According to existing laws, police can use force if anyone wants to hold illegal gatherings. That is why we use pepper spray. It was used in past and will be used in future." Police also fired red and pink water from water canons on hartal supporters. Those soaked in the water said their bodies burnt for several hours. Our Narayanganj correspondent reports: Three people were injured in police action and several buses were vandalised in the city's Chashara.
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