In the outrage triggered by the grisly killings of Shamsul Haq and his son Russell Sheikh on Friday, the demonstrators turned a matrix of roads abuzz with rallies and processions in Kotwali and Sutrapur.

Sources alleged political interference in the form of threats from the ruling BNP stopped some leading businesses in Lalbagh joining the strike under the Sammilita Oikya Babosayee Pracheshta (SOBP).

Demanding urgent steps from the government, the demonstrators in procession shouted slogans --"Why Did Our Brothers Die?" and "Break the Black Hand of Extortion," on their way to Nawabpur Road where they held a huge rally at about 1:00pm.

"How would you like to be asked for money at gunpoint every day? How would you like to leave home in the morning fearing death closer to you than expected?" asked an angry Jahangir Alam, a businessman from Radhikamohan Basak Lane.

The sudden appearance of main opposition Awami League leader Sayeed Khokon sent a ripple of murmurs among the crowd at the rally conducted by Nawabpur Dokan Malik Samity President Kamal Hossain.

"I am here as a businessman of Nawabpur and I think it is my duty to protest the killings of nine businessmen in the past one and a half months," Khokon said.

Khokon slated Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka and said: "Since he (mayor) described the murders of Shamsul Haq, Russell and Selim Reza as business-related, not as part of law and order downslide, he is aiding the killers."

Kamal said: "If the government does not take action against the murderers, we will make greater plans. Today we have called a half-day strike … tomorrow it will be for the whole day. We will call continuous strikes in all markets, if necessary."

Kamal read out a pledge for businesspeople to go ahead with continuous street agitation in the event of government' failure to head off crimes.

Nawabpur Road, North-South Road, English Road, Sadarghat, Islampur, Patuatuli, Babu Bazar, Badamtali and Tantibazar -- home to thousands of shops -- sank into gloom because of the strike.

But some leading organisations such as Bangladesh Agriculture Machinery Merchants Association and a group of SOBP members, who were at the forefront of the agitation until last week, backed down from the protest yesterday.

Sources close to the SOBP said State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar called SOBP leaders to his office on Monday afternoon and asked them to withdraw plans for strike and protest.

"We could not unite in the protest centrally under administrative pressure. We had to take out individual processions," said Fazlur Rahman, a businessman from Nawabpur.

Although businesspeople in Lalbagh decided to go on strike in solidarity with the protesters in Sutrapur and Kotwali, shops in the main commercial areas of Chakbazar, Chakmugoltuli, Nolgola and Shawarighat remained open.

Some shop owners said they kept their businesses open under threats from ruling coalition leaders. A group with strong ties to the local lawmaker on Tuesday night threatened the shop owners with punishment if they closed their shops in protest, a businessman alleged, declining to be identified for security reasons.