Blockade in Sylhet: Petrol bombs thrown, pickup van set on fire, one arrested

On the first day of the of 48-hour blockade called by both the  BNP and Jamaat parties, miscreants set fire to a pickup van carrying food products at Parairchak Jalkarkandi area on the Sylhet-Fenchuganj road at around 10:30am on Sunday (5 November).

On receiving the information, South Surma and Moglabazar police units rushed to the spot and arrested one person. 

The name and address of the detainee was not immediately known.

BNP and Jamaat activists have been picketing at various places in Sylhet on the first day of the 48-hour blockade called by BNP-Jamaat and its allied parties. 

They were seen picketing with helmets and face coverings on various roads including the Sylhet-Dhaka highway. 

Eyewitnesses revealed that that morning picketers pelted stones at a pick-up van carrying food products in the Jalkarkandi area of Parairchak.

Later, petrol bombs were thrown at the car and the front part of the car was burnt.

Earlier around 7 am in the Lalabazar area of South Surma in Sylhet, activists on the Sylhet-Dhaka Highway, belonging to the local BNP branch, laid bricks and blocked the road. 

Around the same time, some BNP-Jamaat activists in the Malipur and Kazalshah areas of Sylhet-Jakiganj road, also took to the streets.

Miscreants started vandalising cars in Khadimnagar of the Sylhet metropolis; they fled when police arrived and attempted to apprehend them.

During the first day of the 48-hour road, rail and waterway blockade, long-distance passenger buses were unable to leave Sylhet till 12pm, with low traffic overall within the city.

Sylhet Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (North) Md Azbahar Ali Sheikh said the law enforcement forces are ready to avoid any kind of sabotage during the siege. 

Security has been beefed up in the city, including on the highways.