AL's day-long hartal today

The AL presidium on June 15 decided to enforce the shutdown from 6:00am to 6:00pm, also to protest law-and-order slide.

The party also called an eight-hour countrywide hartal on June 12 protesting the law-and-order tumble and lack of security in public life. The general strike coincided with the placing of the budget in parliament.

The Bangladesh Chhatra League, student front of the AL, enforced a half-day hartal on June 19, protesting the killing of its city unit leader Palash, the closedown coinciding with the visit of US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Addressing a press conference at her Sangsad Bhaban office on June 15, AL President and Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina said the proposed 'anti-people budget' would not be allowed to go unchallenged.

She said the government imposed an additional tax of Tk 5,000 crore on the poor.

The AL and its front organisations brought out processions in Dhaka and elsewhere yesterday to drum up support for today's hartal.

The hartal came amid the indefinite boycott of the Jatiya Sangsad by AL lawmakers since Thursday in protest against a state minister's 'invective' against Hasina in parliament.