DHAKA: The major opposition political party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said Saturday that police personnel arrested over 100 political activists and wounded around the same number of their supporters, including with bullets in sit-ins in Bangladesh’s capital city Dhaka.
Over 100 Arrested, Wounded in Anti-government Protests in Bangladesh
As per media reports, a police van and three buses were set on fire, and many private vehicles were vandalized during the protests in the South Asian country. The ruling and opposition parties blamed each other for the violence.
The opposition political party BNP is demanding a neutral election-time government, while the ruling party Awami League is rigid on conducting elections in December under the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
A video that went viral on Bangladesh’s media showed police personnel charging batons and also detaining BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy from the protest ground in the capital city. However, reports said that Police freed him later.
Police said that they arrested as many as 90 people for damaging public property and attacking on police personnel in Dhaka.
Faruk Hossain, deputy commissioner Police’s media wing, told the media that at least 20 police personal were wounded in assaults by BNP in different areas of Dhaka.
Reports said that Police arrested over 1,200 BNP leaders and workers during the last three days as of Friday during a BNP-staged grand protest in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, denounced the assaults by police personnel and said more than 200 of their leaders and workers were arrested countrywide.
The major opposition party BNP announced that countrywide protest demonstrations would be staged on Monday against the ruling party and police assault on peaceful protestors. Similarly, the ruling party AL also announced a countrywide protest today against BNP’s “violence.”
The US and West are also pressing the Bangladesh government to conduct free and fair elections as the last two elections in the country were allegedly marred by rigging and non-participatory.
