After taking power in 2001, the BNP-led coalition government cancelled the status of the day decreed by the previous AL government.

Educational institutions, shopping malls and roadside shops remained closed during the hartal hours from 6:00am to 12:00noon. Most vehicles except a few rickshaws and CNG-run three-wheelers stayed off the streets.

AL activists were seen busy organising programmes to observe the death anniversary of Bangabandhu.

Contingents of police and members of other law enforcement agencies were on hand to maintain law and order at different key points in the capital. A large number of law enforcers were deployed around Russell Square where the main mourning day programmes were held.

The police put up barricades in front of the AL office on Bangabandhu Avenue and the GPO.

The AL and its front organisations took out processions in different parts of the capital. Matia Chowdhury and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya led a procession from Paltan area to Bangabandhu Avenue.

Frontline organisations of the AL brought out processions around the Bangabandhu Museum.

Former home minister Mohammed Nasim along with other AL leaders held a protest rally at Russell Square around 9:00am.

Our Chittagong correspondent reports: The six-hour hartal was observed in the port city peacefully. The AL and its front organisations brought out processions in different parts of the city during hartal hours.