In Pictures: Half-day strike ends

A half-day nationwide strike enforced by the Left Democratic Alliance (LDA) to protest the soaring prices of essential commodities including edible oil and utility services ended amid sporadic clashes on Monday afternoon.

But some sporadic clashes took place between members of law enforcement agencies and pro-hartal activists at some points in capital Dhaka.

Activists of LDA took position at the key points in the capital in the morning, disrupting vehicular movement. However, there was no report of any untoward incident.

The hartal supporters brought out processions in the city’s Paltan intersection and held sit-in programmes, halting the vehicular movement from Kakrail to GPO intersection and Press Club to Dainik Bangla intersection.

Left-leaning leaders, students and activists also kept Shahbagh intersection blocked since morning.

Vehicular movement from Science Lab to Shahbagh, Farmgate to Shahbagh and Press Club to Shahbagh were halted, causing severe gridlocks that also spread to other parts of the capital.