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Bangla Jamaat rampage
[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-Shibir men yesterday rampaged through streets in the port city, vandalising over 100 vehicles. They carried out the destruction on a stretch of about two kilometres from Port Connecting Road near Halishahar H-block to Agrabad access Road near the district police lines at Chhotopole. A group of over 60 activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat, brought out a procession on Port Connecting Road at around 4:30pm, witnesses and police said. While marching the streets, they chanted slogans demanding the release of detained Jamaat leaders Nizami, Mojahid and Sayedee, and damaged the vehicles in their way indiscriminately. Several other groups of Jamaat-Shibir men from different lanes and by-lanes in an apparently pre-planned way joined the procession and continued the vandalism causing traffic congestion on Port Connecting Road, Agrabad Access Road and Sheikh Mujib Road. Armed with firearms, other weapons and sticks, they also damaged windowpanes of roadside shops and commercial establishments. Besides, the activists attacked passengers of city service buses while they were fleeing for safety. The sudden aggression created panic among the city people at Halishahar and Boropole, police sources said. However, a mob of transport workers, pedestrians and affected people put up resistance around 5:10pm to stop Jamaat men doing any further destruction, said traffic constable Pradip who was on duty at Baropole intersection at that time. The mob chased the activists when the procession reached near the district police lines, said Sub-Inspector Zakir of Halishahar Police Station. The activists fired one shot and threw stones at the mob, injuring a few, said the SI who was among the injured. A few Jamaat men entered Samobai Singapore Market and a mosque opposite to the police lines while escaping from the attack, and police and Rab members picked up around 41 people from the places, he said. One Abu Bakar was shown arrested with a firearm, he mentioned. Locals claimed that most of the detainees were innocent and the culprits had managed to flee the scene. Three cases were filed with Double Mooring Police Station in this connection. Posted by: Fred 2010-07-05 |
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