DHAKA: At least one person was killed and 100 people were wounded in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on Wednesday when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at opposition workers, police and eyewitnesses said.
One Killed during rally
Political tension was reported after the country’s main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called a huge public rally on Saturday to press Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to tender her resignation. Opposition party spokesperson Shahiduddin Annie claimed that police fired at around five hundred opposition workers who peacefully assembled outside the main office of BNP in the capital on Wednesday.
According to Annie, they (party workers) allowed traffic to move but police personnel suddenly attacked them. The spokesperson claimed as many as 100 of their workers were wounded by the police. The BNP claimed that its two activists, including a student, were killed by police fire in Dhaka. However, Abdul Hye, police personnel told AFP that a dead body and eight wounded people were brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
UN and western embassies
Dhaka police spokesperson Faruq Ahmed blamed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party for the clash, adding the police were making efforts to clear roads when BNP workers attacked them. He said,” Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to clear the road.
Current BNP head Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that police have arrested as many as 500 activists and termed it a breach of human rights and the constitution. Reports said that the activists of BNP were chanting slogans against Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Fifteen Western embassies in Bangladesh also issued a joint statement and calling for Bangladesh to allow free expression and elections in the country. The United Nations (UN) said on Wednesday that Bangladesh must honor to its commitments towards media freedom, free expression, and peaceful assembly. killed APP
