Dhaka: Police clashed pro-hartal pickets and fired several rounds bullets to disperse the crowd in the capital city during the early hours of the dawn-to-dusk hartal enforced by Jamaat-e-Islami on Monday.

Pro-hartal Jamaat-Shibir men  took out a procession in the capital’s Rayer Bagh area and hurled several cocktails targeting police when they tried to disperse the crowd. Police locked in chase and counter chase and fired several rounds of shots targeting the Jamaat-Shibir men.

Witnesses and local people said, Jamaat-Shibir men tried to put up a barricade on Dhaka-Chittagong Road by logs of trees and setting those on fire on the busy highway and vandalized several vehicles. On information police rushes to the spot and tried to remove the logs from the highway sparking off a clash in front of Punam Cinema Hall in Rayer Bagh area.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami enforced the countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal at daybreak after two of its top leaders were sentenced to three months in jail for contempt of court on Sunday.

Jamaat-Shibir activists took to the streets early in the morning to enforce the hartal and exploded several cocktails in the capital city’s Jatrabari, Mirpur, Dhanmondi, Pallabi, Moghbazar, Malibagh areas and took out sporadic processions. The Jamaat-Shibir men also clashed with police and vandalized several vehicles in some areas of the capital city early in the morning.

However, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal cities have been kept out of the purview of the shutdown due to the city corporation elections slated for June 15.

At least six crude bombs were exploded by activists of Jamaat-Shibir in Jatrabari, Rayerbagh and Ajimpur of the capital in the morning.

Hartal supporters brought out processions in different areas of the city, including Bakshibazar, Ajimpur and Jatrabari, but law enforces dispersed them in all places.

Police detained five people from Imamganj in Old Dhaka city at about 6.45am when Shibir activists were preparing to bring out a procession in the area.

In Laxmipur, hartal supporters vandalised a bus at Uttar Temohini in the district town in the morning.

At that same time, police detained a Shibir man named Raju on charge of vandalising the bus.

Shibir activists blasted several crude bombs when they brought out a procession at Miah More in the town.

In Natore, activists of Jamaat-Shibir damaged glasses of some vehicles throwing brick chips when they brought out a procession in Harishpur and Bypass area of the district town.

Pickets blocked the Natore-Dhaka Highway by torching tyres.

Jamaat’s acting secretary general Maulana Rafiqul Islam Khan made the hartal call through a press release on Sunday following contempt conviction of its three leaders by the International Crimes Tribunal on Sunday.

The two leaders have also been fined Tk three thousand each while another leader of the party has been fined Tk one thousand by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-2 for making derogatory comments about the tribunal and its war crimes proceedings.

Meanwhile, miscreants hurled five cocktails at the residence of Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu at Darus Salam Road in Mirpur on Sunday afternoon.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, however, blamed the Jamaat-Shibir men for the attack on his residence.

The Jamaat leaders accused in contempt charges are central executive council member and lawmaker Hamidur Rahman Azad, acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan and Dhaka City unit’s assistant secretary general Selim Uddin.

On February 7, the tribunal summoned them to explain why contempt proceedings would not be initiated against them for their ‘abhorrently outrageous remarks’ at a party rally on February 4.

As the accused did not appear before the tribunal despite deferring the dates several times, the tribunal issued arrest warrant against them on March 6.

Police arrested Selim Uddin on March 8. The two other are still absconding.

Ends/AMA/10/06/13