Cop, Jubo Dal man killed as BNP, Police and AL clash in city
On Saturday night, 11 platoons of BGB were deployed to patrol the streets of the capital.
Two people, including a police constable, were killed and scores injured as parts of Dhaka turned into battlefields as BNP activists, law enforcers and Awami League activists locked into violent clashes on Saturday.
The constable was a member of the counterterrorism unit of the police. The other dead was a ward-level leader of Jubo Dal, the youth wing of the BNP, as claimed by the party.
The AL, BNP and Jamaat took to the streets on Saturday, after convening their previously announced rallies in shows of strength.
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But the BNP postponed its rally at Nayapaltan around 2:15pm as police fired rubber bullets, flash grenades and teargas shells, forcing its leaders and activists to leave the venue.
The opposition party called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for today to protest the "police action on the gathering".
Pitched battles fought
From 11am to 6pm, BNP activists fought pitched battles with the police and Awami League activists. Several BNP persons were seen lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding.
Most of the violent clashes took place in front of the Nayapaltan BNP office between 4pm and 5pm. Leaders from the party and its allied organisations were injured by rubber bullets fired by police.
When BNP General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was making the announcement of hartal from the stage, loud reports of gunshots and bangs of sound grenades were rocking the whole area.
The ruling Awami League also held a "peace and development" rally at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram Mosque within a one-km radius of the opposition's venue. Addressing the gathering, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader announced a countrywide "peace rally" for Sunday.
While the BNP could not continue its rally, convened to intensify its anti-government movement pressing for the next national election under a caretaker administration, its long-time ally Jamaat-e-Islami stole much of the spotlight.
The controversial Islamist party had called a rally at the Shapla Chatwar for Saturday but was denied permission as it's not registered with the Election Commission anymore.
Around 11:30 in the morning, the party brought four pickups and set up a stage at the Arambagh turning point while party activists and supporters took up positions in nearby points, from Arambagh to Kamalapur.
Around 1:30pm, Jamaat men broke through the barricade in front of Eden Mosque, 100 yards from the Shapla Chatwar, and joined the Arambagh rally.
In an apparent coordination with the police, Jamaat volunteers built a human barricade holding hands near Notre Dame to bar the party activists from going towards Shapla Chatwar.
The party's Acting Ameer Professor Mujibur Rahman declared Jamaat will not allow the national election to be held without a caretaker government.
The party also called for a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for today, and 37 smaller opposition parties supported the BNP-Jamaat hartal.
Kakrail clash
Around 11:30am, a clash broke out between the leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and BNP at the capital's Kakrail Masjid intersection.
BNP activists and police were engaged in a running battle, with law enforcers firing tear gas shells. The Kakrail police box and a car were set on fire around this time.
Additional Commissioner of Detective Branch (DB) Harun-or-Rashid in a media briefing said that some BNP activists attacked police in front of the Judges' Residence Complex in Kakrail.
Eyewitnesses said that the gate of the complex was damaged.
"Some policemen were injured. Furthermore, they carried out an attack, vandalised and torched some vehicles in front of IDB Bhaban at Kakrail," AC Harun-or-Rashid told reporters.
"We will identify those involved and take appropriate action," he said, noting that police have video footage of the incidents.
BGB members were later deployed at the Kakrail Church crossing.
According to eyewitnesses, the clash ensued when a bus full of AL activists from Gazipur was on way to Gulistan through Moghbazar. In the meantime, BNP leaders and activists had already gathered along the route from Kakrail to the Arambagh junction.
The bus was prevented from proceeding to Gulistan, sparking a clash between the two groups.
The situation escalated rapidly, prompting a swift response from the police, who used water cannons and a riot control vehicle on the crowd and ordered BNP activists to vacate the area.
When they refused to disperse, law enforcement used sound grenades, rubber bullets and teargas grenades to break up the crowd, eyewitnesses said.
The BNP activists then pressed the police to retreat to Minto Road near the Foreign Service Academy.
Opposition men also threw stones at the gate of the chief justice's residence near Ramna Park and broke the window of the guard room.
Both sides, Awami League and BNP, were seen carrying poles during the clash.
Amid the chase and counter-chase, BNP men brought out a procession in the Kakrail area and started moving towards the InterContinental hotel around 1pm.
At one stage, police stopped them, and BNP leaders and activists started throwing stones at the law enforcers.
Subsequently, agitated BNP supporters vandalised the office of the Kakrail ward councillor.
At the time, two pickup trucks were also damaged. A "Baishakhi Paribahan" bus also was vandalised right in front of the International Mother Language Institute in the same area.
Earlier in the day, miscreants vandalised three vehicles in Kakrail. In total, at least five buses and seven motorcycles were reportedly torched in the area.
Ambulance burned
An ambulance and six other vehicles were set on fire during a clash between BNP men and police in the capital's Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital premises, according to media reports.
Fire Service and Civil Defense Control room Officer Rafi Al Faruk told Prothom Alo that miscreants set fire to five motorcycles, an ambulance and a microbus parked on the hospital premises at around 3:30pm.
Two firefighting units from fire service headquarters and two units from Khilgaon station brought the fire under control around 4pm, he added.
Identities of the deceased
The deceased constable Parvez, from Manikganj's Daulatpur, lived in Dhaka's Shahjadpur with his wife Ruma and only child, Tanha.
His father, Mohammad Nurul Ali Mollah, was a freedom fighter.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan met Ruma and Tanha at the hospital and said there will be swift justice over Parvez's death.
Parvez was brought to the hospital with critical injuries.
"Doctors declared the policeman dead after he was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition around 4:30pm," said Dr Mohammad Alauddin, the residential surgeon of the DMC emergency department.
"He had severe head injuries. We confirmed his death after conducting an ECG," he added.
The other deceased, Shamim Mollah, son of Yusuf Mollah, was a Jubo Dal leader of Mugda thana.
BNP claimed that Shamim was injured by gunshot in front of the BNP central office. Later, he died of his wounds at the Central Police Hospital.
Juba Dal Acting General Secretary Shafiqul Islam Milton confirmed this to the media.
However, Central Police Hospital's Deputy Inspector General Rezaul Haider said a person identified as Shamim Mollah died in the hospital but there were no gunshot wounds on his body. He was a driver of a Police Hospital physician," he added.
130 injured treated at DMCH
At least 130 people, who were injured during today's clashes, have received treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital while 33 others have been admitted, according to the DMCH authorities.
During a media briefing Saturday evening at the hospital premises, DMCH Director Brig Gen Nazmul Haque said one of the deceased succumbed to head injuries.
"One other injured person was brought here in critical condition. Though out of danger now, his condition can change at any time. He has been kept under observation," he told reporters.
Over 40 police personnel and several journalists also were injured during the violence, according to media reports.
BNP claims over a thousand of its activists and supporters were injured.
DCAB condemns attack on journos
Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) expressed deep concern over the attacks on journalists in Dhaka, reports UNB.
In a statement, DCAB President Rezaul Karim Lotus and General Secretary Emrul Kayesh condemned the attacks on journalists.
According to media reports, at least five journalists were injured and their vehicles were burnt while performing professional duties at the political rallies.
Some of the journalists are critically injured and hospitalised.
After the clash
On Saturday night, 11 platoons of BGB were deployed to patrol the streets of the capital.
Already patrolling Paltan, Motijheel and Ramna areas, the border force members have also been deployed in front of the Chief Justice's residence and in front of the Secretariat.
"As one policeman was brutally murdered during the rally, you know what will be the consequences if they [BNP] take to the street on Sunday. The DMP is all set to wipe out all the anarchists," a high official of DMP told TBS.
According to the DMP, thousands of policemen have been deployed across the city. All police stations will remain alert to avert any untoward situation centering the hartal.
After the clashes tapered off around the evening, Awami League activists were roaming the Bijaynagar area, most of them carrying sticks and some even small firearms, eyewitnesses said.
Police and RAB patrols were seen in Paltan and Nightingale intersections, Kakrail, Malibagh, Nayapalton, Fakirapool, Arambagh and Motijheel areas.
The streets wore a deserted look with no buses seen running as of 7:00pm Saturday.
