The second day of the countrywide 48-hour blockade, called by BNP, Jamaat and like-minded opposition parties, is underway today with some incidents of violence and arson.

After the three-day countrywide blockade, another road, rail and waterways blockade started at 6 am yesterday. It will end at 6 am tomorrow.

The presence of public transport was relatively thin on Dhaka roads amid tension and fear of violence.

Office-goers, students and other commuters were seen struggling to find buses due to the shortage of public transport.

Miscreants set buses on fire in Dhaka's Mirpur and Bangla Motor areas yesterday evening which created panic among people.

In Chattogram, two buses were burnt by unidentified miscreants in Katghar and Oxygen Mor areas yesterday during the blockade.

With this, a total of 17 arson incidents were reported across the country from 7 pm on Saturday to 11 pm last night, Fire Service has said.

Police and other law enforcement agencies have already alerted their units to increase vigilance and beef up security across the country.

Police have also taken up positions and set up checkpoints at the entry points and all major locations in Dhaka.

Pausing their protest for two days, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Thursday announced that his party would enforce a 48-hour countrywide blockade beginning from Sunday morning.

Vehicles of newspapers or media, ambulances, and vehicles transporting oxygen cylinders and medicines will remain out of the purview of the blockade.