Cops 'raid CPB office'

Minutes before the beginning of yesterday's countrywide hartal called by the left-leaning parties protesting the power tariff hike, police allegedly raided the office of Communist Party of Bangladesh and picked up 11 of its leaders and activists. 

The detainees were later freed.

Police also lobbed at least four teargas canisters inside the office in Paltan around 5:30am, the CPB alleged in a press statement.

Around 6:00am, police dispersed the protesters when they were trying to gather near Shahbagh intersection. They used noise emitting devices to disperse them.

Maruf Hossain Sorder, deputy commissioner (Ramna division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that the devices were used to “bring the situation under control”.

The half-day hartal ended yesterday with no major incidents of violence.

Vehicular movement was normal in the capital and elsewhere. Police did not let the pro-hartal activists take to the streets in many areas.

Meanwhile, at least 12 people were injured as police swooped on a pro-hartal rally at a level crossing in Gaibandha town around 11:00am, reports our district correspondent.

The CPB and its allies will hold nationwide demonstrations today in protest of the CPB office raid.

CPB, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal and other left-leaning parties called the hartal after the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on November 23 raised the power tariff by 5.3 percent.

The BNP also supported the hartal. 

Mahmudul Haque, officer-in-charge of Paltan Police Station, told this correspondent that police did not conduct any raid in the CPB office.

Police picked up 11 people as they were trying to block the road in front of the CPB office, but they were later freed, he added.