hartal

Half-day general strike called from 6am to noon. Not sure whether to expect students to show up for the first day of class or not.

These strikes have a reputation for being violent in Dhaka, but there hasn't been one since 2006. Matan's school guide says that school is held unless we hear otherwise. The American embassy sent a warning yesterday but it was pretty mild and suggested that we just avoid certain areas where the strikers were going to be protesting.

My ride didn't come in the morning and the streets were pretty much deserted. We had Bangla class as usual and by 10am traffic seemed pretty much normal. The dept coordinator says that the students are probably going to be in class.

Notes from the online version of the newspaper (our paper version delivered this morning did not even have it as headline news):

Monday, September 14, 2009 Picketers ransack several vehicles
Star Online Report

Picketers ransacked several vehicles at Shahbagh and Paltan areas during their half-day hartal that started at 6:00 this morning.

They also set fire to several copies of the daily Prothom Alo and the daily Amader Somoy claiming that the newspapers gave misleading information about the hartal programme.

Apart from Shahbagh and Paltan areas, the entire traffic movement across the city was almost normal.

Huge contingent of forces from different law enforcing and intelligent agencies were deployed at different strategic points of the city including Paltan, Dainik Bangla, Zero Point, National Press Club, Bijoynagar and Shahbagh areas.