More than 50 AL men, including former minister and party Presidium Member Motia Chowdhury and Jubo League Chairman Jahangir Kabir Nanok and General Secretary Mirza Azam MP, were injured in police baton charge.

In Chittagong, Rangamati and Lalmonirhat, about 40 people were injured in clashes between loyalists of the ruling BNP and the AL.

Police picked up 36 people in Dhaka during the hartal the main opposition party called to protest what it said is infringement on democratic and political rights of the opposition and killing of its leaders and activists by the ruling alliance loyalists.

The shutdown disrupted operation of Chittagong and Mongla ports, stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong, most banks and business houses across the country. No classes were held at the educational institutions.

Traffic movement was thin in Dhaka and other cities and towns. However, rickshaws plied almost as usual.

In the capital, Motia Chowdhury received injuries in the legs as police charged batons on the demonstrators, who were trying to break a police cordon in front of the AL central office at Bangabandhu Avenue to parade on the streets in support of the hartal.

The law enforcers, both male and female, assaulted pro-hartal women pickets on Bangabandhu Avenue and dragged at least four of them onto police van.

A woman police constable was also injured during the clashes at Bangabandhu Avenue, Golap Shah Mazar and Noor Hossain Square areas.

ntv cameraman Sajal Sarkar was seriously injured when a minibus, fleeing to escape attacks by the pickets, knocked him down. He was rushed to hospital.

The demonstrators damaged at least five buses, including two BRTC buses and three minibuses during the nearly two-hour clashes, which broke out at about 11:00am.

There were also reports of sporadic violence at Tejgaon, Azimpur and Chawkbazar. Some of the injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

UNB reports: Some 20 people were injured when the ruling BNP men attacked a pro-hartal procession of the AL at Chandraghona in Kaptai upazila of Rangamati.

In Lalmonirhat, the hartal was marked by violent clashes between the AL and BNP activists, leaving 12 injured.

Our Staff Correspondent in Chittagong reports: Five persons were injured in a clash between Awami Jubo League (AL's youth front) and BNP loyalists in Boalkhali upazila yesterday noon.

In the capital, Bangabandhu Avenue, Golap Shah Mazar and Noor Hossain Square areas turned into a battlefield as police charged batons to disperse the demonstrators, who retaliated by pelting stones. Vehicles in riot gear were also deployed in the area. Some 5,000 police personnel were deployed in the city.

Violence erupted at Bangabandhu Avenue when AL central leader Nazma Rahman broke the police barricade in front of the party office and tried to block movement of a BRTC bus. Some other AL leaders and activists joined her and sat on the street.

At the time, several hundred AL demonstrators, including women, engaged in a scuffle with police to break the barbedwire barricades and march on the street. Police then charged batons.

Police also charged batons on a crowd inside Osmany Udyan.

The protesters including AL leaders Tofail Ahmed, Motia Chowdhury, Akhtaruzzaman, Sultan Mohammad Mansur, Mohammad Hanif, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Pankaj Devnath sat on the street, encircled by police. They sang patriotic songs and shouted slogans against the government.

At about 12:30pm, Awami Jubo League brought out a pro-hartal procession from the Muktangon. Police clubbed the participants and dispersed them near the General Post Office (GPO). Jahangir Kabir Nanok and Mirza Azam MP were injured. The youth front activists gathered again and sat on the street with its top leaders. Later, AL leader Tofail Ahmed came to the spot, talked with police and marched to the party office area along with the demonstrators.

A procession led by AL leaders Abdus Samad Azad, Mohammad Nasim, Obaidul Kader, Abdur Razzak, Abu Sayeed and KM Jahangir marched down the Mirpur Road during the hartal hours. The AL activists also staged demonstrations at Jigatola bus stand, near Dhaka University campus and at Shahbagh intersection, Jatrabari and Mirpur.