Police disperse BNP activists as they neared Nayapaltan office
Law enforcers on Thursday chased away BNP leaders and activists from nearing the party headquarters in Nayapaltan.
Reportedly, a group of BNP men gathered in front of the police barricade set up at Paltan's Nightingale intersection, just half a kilometre away from the party's central office, to protest the arrest and killing of fellow activists. At the time, police drove them away towards Bijoynagar crossing.
Police were seen in action to remove everyone including journalists from the cordoned area surrounding the BNP central office which has been locked down by law enforcement agencies since yesterday on allegations of storing explosives inside the office.
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Meanwhile, three people were arrested from the Nightingale intersection area.
"I am a hawker. Police have arrested me on suspicion that I am here to support BNP," said one of the detainees, Ujjwal Hossain, while he was being taken away by the police.
A man died of bullet injuries after police and BNP activists clashed in front of the party's Nayapaltan headquarters amid political tensions brewing ahead of the BNP's 10 December Dhaka rally.
Following the clashes that lasted more than three hours on Wednesday afternoon, at least 20 persons were brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital till 8pm, according to Bachchu Mia, a police inspector and also in-charge of Dhaka Medical College Hospital police outpost.
Dozens of BNP leaders and activists, including the party's Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Publicity Secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, former Chhatra Dal president Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Jewel and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, were among those detained from the scene on Wednesday.
Talking to reporters in front of the party headquarters in the evening, however, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that two BNP men died in the clashes and at least 100 partymen got injured.
As the top BNP leader was talking to journalists, police cordoned off the Nayapaltan BNP office, where the party plans to hold the political gathering after a series of divisional rallies across the country.
