Shawdesh Desk:

The police on Tuesday foiled a prescheduled road march of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party in Rajshahi while at least 10 BNP activists were arrested and over a dozen injured in a clash with law enforcers in Dhaka city.

In Rajshahi, the police allegedly locked the party’s city unit office while in Dhaka the BNP activists allegedly vandalised a BRTC bus and a police box at Science Lab crossing during the clash.

The main opposition recently announced the country-wide road march protesting at wholesale arrests of the BNP leaders and activists and at using courts to oppress the opposition to realise their 10-point demand including restoration of the election-time caretaker government system.

Protesting at the attack and intimidation, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a statement said that the Awami League government had become more desperate realising its own downfall.

‘It seems that the current illegal regime has engaged in a continuous dirty game to perpetuate its terrible misrule by scaring the people of the country through murder, injury and terrorism,’ he said.

As part of an evil strategy to hide the terrible misrule, the present ‘authoritarian illegal government’ has been continuously carrying out heinous attacks and murders and injuries on the opposition leaders and activists, including the BNP, with the help of law enforcement agencies and party cadres, added the leader.

In Dhaka, the police on Tuesday afternoon foiled a rally of the BNP after the party activists were locked in clash with the law enforcers at Science Lab crossing in the capital.

Over a dozen party activists and police were injured in the clash, and some 10 leaders and activists of the BNP, including its central executive committee member Sheikh Robiul Alam, were arrested.

The BNP activists and the police were locked in a clash around 3:45pm after the Dhaka city south unit BNP brought out a procession in the Science Lab area, the police said.

A bus and a traffic police box were vandalised during the incident, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner for Ramna division Ashraf Hossain.

The police officer said that the procession initially was peaceful, but the BNP activists went berserk when their procession reached the Science Lab crossing.

The police intercepted the unruly BNP activists from further vandalism and arson attack, he said, adding that the activists then hurled brick chips at the police, prompting them to open tears shells and shotgun fire.

DC Ashraf said that they arrested eight to ten people from the spot for vandalism and attacking police.

Eight police members were injured by the brick chip attack by the BNP activists.

BNP media wing member Shairul Kabir Khan said that central executive committee member Sheikh Robiul Alam was among the arrests.

The BNP leaders and activists said that the police intercepted their procession and launched attack on it unprovoked.

In Rajshahi, the BNP road march was foiled on Tuesday as law enforcement agencies kept the party’s Rajshahi city unit office locked since morning.

According to the party sources, the district and city BNP was scheduled to hold a road march at 11:00am on Tuesday beginning at Bhubanmohan Park and ending at the railway gate via Sonadighi Mor and Saheb Bazar areas in the city.

Ershad Ali Isha, convener of Rajshahi city BNP, told New Age that they wanted to hold a road march to press home their 10-point demand including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.

‘But Bijoy Basak, additional police commissioner (crime and operation) of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, kept the main entrance of our office under lock and key while law enforcers kept their party office and venue surrounded since morning’, he said.

Isha alleged that law enforcers arrested seven leaders of Juba Dal and Chhatra Dal including Nazrul Huda, joint convener of the city BNP on Monday night.

‘The police were conducting raids on the houses of party leaders and activists at night, and harassing them without any reason,’ he claimed.

Visiting the Malopara area on Tuesday, this correspondent found the party office locked and guarded by members of the Crisis Response Team of police.

The police personnel were seen not allowing traffic movement on the road adjacent to the Rajshahi city BNP office since early Tuesday.

They put barricades at several intersections in the city by setting temporary fences to control the vehicular movements.

Along with the CRT and the police, a large number of detectives – both in uniform and plainclothes – were seen patrolling in front of the BNP office and its adjacent areas while an armoured personnel carrier and water cannon were found deployed there.

Contacted, Bijoy Basak, additional police commissioner (crime and operation), told New Age that they had deployed law enforcers to avoid any kind of untoward incidents as they had specific information that the BNP could commit subversive activities centring their road march.

In a reply, the police official denied allegation of putting a lock on the BNP office.