Police-BNP clashes over road march
Staff Reporter :
Over 350 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were injured and 29 others detained on Saturday as the countrywide road march programme of the main opposition party came under police attacks at different places.
The BNP organised the programme to press home their demand for an unconditional release of party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and her advanced treatment abroad.
According to reports received from Narayanganj, Habiganj, Chuadanga, Netrokona, Barguna and Natore, the police and the ruling Awami League men swooped on the BNP leaders and activists as they came out on the streets to observe the road march.
However, the police and the AL denied the allegations.
In Dhaka, the road march from the BNP central office at Naya Paltan to Moghbazar was peaceful, but some BNP activists alleged intimidation and hindrance by the police before the Dhaka road march.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir inaugurated the programme in front of the party central office at Naya Paltan in the city at about 4:15pm.
The road march ended at Moghbazar after parading different main roads in the city.
In a brief address prior to launching the programme, the party secretary general said that their party chief was very sick and she was now at the crossroads of death and life.
He said Khaleda is now receiving treatment at a hospital with serious ailments as the government is not allowing her to go abroad for advanced treatment, violating her human rights Fakhrul said that she had been convicted in ‘false’ cases and remained confined for over the last five years only because of her fight for democracy.
The BNP leader warned that the government would have to bear the all responsibilities if anything bad happens to her in confinement.
He slammed the government for arresting BNP leaders and raiding their houses. The BNP leader demanded of the
government to present six Chhatra Dal leaders before public by six hours who were picked up on Friday by the law enforcers.
From their march, Fakhrul said that they wanted to send out a message to the government to release Khaleda and other arrested BNP leaders and activists and stop arresting the opposition leaders and activists.
Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP and its associate organisations joined the programme carrying banners, festoons and portraits of the party’s top leaders.
They chanted various slogans demanding the resignation of the government and the release of Khaleda without any condition to pave the way for her treatment at any advanced centre abroad.
BNP’s all other city and district units also helda similar programme across the country.
In Naraynaganj, at least six BNP activists were injured by police firing and tear shell.
BNP activists and leaders alleged that their rally was peaceful but police without any provocation attacked them.
In Habiganj, hundreds of BNP leaders and activists including Sadar than officer-in-charge were injured in the nearly two-hour-long clash.
Police fired hundred rounds of rubber bullets, tear shells and sound grenades to control the situation. Police have also arrested at least 15 people in this connection.
In Netrokona, police detained at least six BNP activists on charge of vandalizing a CNG autorickshaw in the district’s Kurpar pump area, said Netrokona Sadar Model Thana officer-in-charge Mohammad Lutfol Huq.
The BNP leaders claimed that their activists were detained forcefully though they didn’t involve in any destruction activities.
In Natore, at least 50 leaders and activists of the BNP were injured in attacks by ‘masked attackers’ at at least five places in the district since morning, the party leaders alleged.
Natore district BNP convening committee member Dewan Shahin alleged that the masked attackers were the activists of the ruling Awami League.
He said that they, after the attacks of AL men, brought out a road march from the party’s makeshift district office in the town but had to end the programme within minutes due to police hindrance.
The district AL Awami League general secretary Shariful Islam blamed ‘a special leader of Awami League’ for the attacks and urged the law enforcement agencies to take appropriate actions against the attackers. ‘AL will not take responsibility of such misdeeds,’ he added.
In Barguna, at least 50 leaders and activists were injured as police charged baton on BNP’s road march in front of Municipality Market in the district town, alleged Nazrul Islam Molla, former president of Barguna district unit of BNP.
Abdul Halim, additional superintendent of police of the district, claimed that they barred the BNP activists from advancing forward and they engaged in scuffle with the police.
He claimed that they did not charge baton and added that the BNP leaders and activists then returned to their district unit office and held a rally for about two hours.
On August 9, Khaleda was admitted to Evercare Hospital for health checkups and treatment as she fell sick and she has been receiving treatment under close observation of doctors in a cabin at the hospital since then.
Khaleda has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
Meanwhile, BNP leaders and activists distributed leaflets across the country on Thursdayto press home their demand for the unconditional release of Khaleda and her advanced treatment abroad.
Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail as she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case by a lower court on February 8, 2018.
On March 25, 2020, the BNP chief was released from jail upon an executive order on some conditions considering her age and humanitarian ground following an application by her family.