Police picked up around 100 opposition men from different parts of the capital.

Several home-made bombs were blasted at different parts of the capital including Jhigatola, Gulistan, and Chankharpool during the hartal hours.

In the morning, hartal supporters attacked a Panchagarh-bound local train in Dinajpur, leaving train driver Rabiur Hossain and railway lineman Jahangir Alam critically injured.

The opposition alliance enforced the hartal to protest police atrocities on them during Election Commission (EC) Secretariat siege programme on September 6 that left around 100 people including the AL chief's Political Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury injured.

Police arrested 275 people in last 24 hours, a press release of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said.

RUSSEL SQUARE
An opposition procession led by former home minister Mohammad Nasim came under police action on Mirpur road at about 10:30am. Police intercepted the procession near Metro Shopping Mall while it was proceeding towards Russell Square from Nasim's residence.

Intercepted by the police, the opposition men engaged in exchanging hot wards with the police and pelted them with brickbats. Police responded with a mild charge of baton on them including AL leader Mohammad Nasim and chased them away. At least eight opposition activists were injured. Police also picked up seven activists from the spot.

The opposition men regrouped and held a rally at Russell Square where the opposition leaders said they would not take part any election under Justice KM Hasan, the likely chief of caretaker government, and MA Aziz as Chief Election Commissioner.

BANGABANDHU AVENUE
Led by Motia Chowdhury and Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, the AL brought out a procession from opposite the Jatiya Press Club at about 6:15am and staged a sit-in in front of Pir Yeamany Market.

Bangladesh Awami Jubo League and Jubo Mahila League together brought out a procession and held a rally in front of the Hockey Stadium. Chaired by Jubo League Chairman Jahangir Kabir Nanak, the rally was also addressed by Tofail Ahmed, Motia Chowdhury, Obaidul Quader, Asaduzzaman Nur MP, Mirza Azam MP.

Addressing the rally, the opposition leaders vowed to resist any election in the country before implementation of the electoral reforms. Without participation of AL no election would either be held or accepted in the country, they said.

Bangladesh Awami Swechchhasebok League also brought out a procession and held another rally in front of Muktijoddha Club near Bangabandhu Avenue.

AL leader Asaduzzaman Nur MP brought out a procession from Motijheel. The police intercepted the procession and picked up five activists before chasing them away.

A microbus was set afire at Fakirapool in the morning. After two home-made bombs went off near Golapshah Mazar in Gulistan, police raided adjacent Hotel Ramna and arrested eight opposition activists as suspected bomb throwers. Demanding immediate release of the arrested activists, the Jubo League brought out a procession on the Bangabandhu Avenue in the evening.

MOHAKHALI
Riot police scuffled with a rally led by AL leader and former lawmaker Dr HM Iqbal from 10:50am to 12:20pm at Nabisco intersection before forcing them to backtrack.

Police charged baton and dispersed the rally. When Farazi Azmal Hossain, a senior reporter of the daily Ittefaq, was injured in police action, other journalists in the area got locked in a scuffle with the police.

Regrouped, opposition activists led by Iqbal staged a sit-in demonstration there.

A group of agitating hartal supporters broke glasses of some vehicles plying on the Tongi Diversion Road as they were chased by the police.

Unidentified people hurled two homemade bombs at a police van under the Mohakhali Flyover at around 9:45am. Nobody was, however, injured.

Police also charged baton to disperse a rally led by AL leaders Maj Gen (rtd) Subid Ali Bhuiyan and advocate Shahara Khatun near Government Titumir College at about 9:00am. Police rounded up several activists from there.

MIRPUR
Police clubbed and dispersed a procession at around 9:30am when opposition activists tried to bring out a procession at Mirpur Section 11. Police picked up one hartal supporter from the spot.

Earlier police chased and dispersed opposition activists when they tried to bring out a procession near Mirpur-10 roundabout. Police picked up at least eight activists from the spot.

As pickets vandalised windowpanes of a bus near Technical crossing at Sheorapara, a passenger was injured.

Police charged baton on an opposition procession at about 9:00am in Shyampur leaving at least six people injured.

In Lalbagh, AL leader Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin brought out a procession that police dispersed by baton charge.

Five people were injured when an opposition procession in Nawabpur came under police attack at 12:00noon.

Noor Hossain, 50, was critically injured when pro-hartal supporters stoned a Mirpur-bound bus from Demra.

The opposition combine also brought out processions at Sayedabad bus terminal, Motijheel, Khilgaon, Sabujbagh, and other parts of the city to support the hartal.

DU
Police picked up Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Organising Secretary Salehin Reza, School Affairs Secretary Abdullah-al-Mamun and Joint Secretary Jasim at Shahbagh intersection as they were marching towards DU campus with a procession.

Ignoring heavy rain in the morning, several hundred activists of BCL-led Chhatra Sangram Parishad brought out a procession on the Dhaka University campus in support of the hartal.

Police halted the procession in front of the Fine Arts Institute where the parishad held a rally.

HASINA'S STATEMENT
Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina condemned the arrests and truncheon-charge on the opposition activists by police during the hartal hours yesterday and demanded immediate release of the arrested workers. In a statement, Hasina demanded immediate withdrawal of false cases filed against them.

COUNTRYWIDE HARTAL
Hartal supporters attacked a Panchagarh bound train in Dinajpur yesterday and beat up the train's driver Rabiur Hossain and lineman Jahangir Alam. Rabiur was sent to Parbatipur Railway Hospital for treatment as his condition was deteriorating, reports our Dinajpur correspondent.

Swechchha Shebok League activists threw brickbats at the train near Dinajpur Zilla School around 10:30am, witnesses said. Later police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

The hartal hours passed off peacefully in Khulna metropolitan city and elsewhere in the district, our staff correspondent from Khulna reports. AL and its allies brought out joint procession in the city around 11:00am in support of the hartal.

Patkal Sangram Parishad (PSP) also brought out a procession at Khalispur to drum up support for the hartal and to protest the killing of jute-mill worker Noor Mohammad Jashim.

The PSP will enforce a daylong hartal in the Khulna-Jessore industrial belt today and will lay siege to roads and railway lines from dawn-to-dusk tomorrow in a bid to realise their eight-point demand.

At least 15 people were injured when pro-hartal demonstrators ransacked five buses in Patuakhali during hartal hours, our correspondent in Patuakhali reports.

Pickets also set up barricades on the Patuakhali-Kuakata and Patuakhali-Barisal highways.

Patuakhali police arrested five AL activists near Patuakhali-Kuakata highway.

Hartal supporters damaged a truck at Palbari area in Jessore yesterday, our Jessore correspondent reported.

Pro-hartal demonstrators vandalised two auto-rickshaws and a motorcycle in Faridpur yesterday, our Faridpur correspondent reports.

Our Rajshahi University correspondent reports that activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) prevented a number of pro-Jamaat teachers from taking classes and conducting examinations in the university yesterday. The BCL also brought out a procession and held a rally on the campus in support of the hartal.

A group of anti-hartal activists stabbed Subhasis Podder Liton, president of Bogra BCL district unit, at Chalopara area in Bogra during hartal hours yesterday, our staff correspondent in Bogra reports.

Critically injured Liton was admitted to Bogra Mohammed Ali Hospital.

Sources said Liton was attacked by BNP and Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activists around 10:00am when he was picketing for the hartal.

BNP activists, however, denied their involvement in the attack and alleged that BCL men attacked BNP leader Abdul Kayum at Shatmatha in the afternoon.

Bogra police said five activists of AL and its front organisation were arrested.

14-PARTY MEETING
The 14-party held an emergency meeting last night at AL's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue with AL Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed in the chair. The meeting condemned the police attack on Mohammad Nasim and other 14-party activists during the countrywide hartal yesterday.

The meeting shifted the Agargaon gathering point to Mirpur-10 for tomorrow's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) siege programme. The other three points are Bangla Motor, Russell Square and Mohakhali intersection.

The opposition combine sits today to discuss the final preparations before the siege tomorrow.

AL acting General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Motia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Bimal Biswas, Nurul Islam, Mainuddin Khan Badal were present at the meeting.