C T Online Desk: At least one person was killed and over 200 injured as the road-march programmes of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party seeking the government’s resignation came under attack from the police and ruling party supporters in several parts of the country, including in the capital Dhaka.
The death was reported in Lakshmipur district, where over 50 people, including at least 10 police personnel, were injured in clashes following an attack on the BNP by police and the AL.
Besides, over 100 were injured in AL-BNP clashes in Khagrachari, 20 were injured in a police attack in Pirojpur, 50 were injured in Kishoreganj, 40 were injured in Bogura, 50 were injured in Rajbari, and 50 were injured in Feni, according to police sources and BNP leaders.
In Dhaka, a road march came under attack in the Mirpur Bangla College area, triggering a clash that left at least 30 injured, including 20 AL supporters, witnesses said.
BNP’s media cell reported clashes in Bogura, Kishoreganj, Pirojpur, Feni, Khagrachari, and Lakshmipur districts.
This was the first programme of the opposition parties since they announced the one-point movement last week with the goal to ‘remove the Awami League from power’ and hold the upcoming national election under a ‘neutral’ government.
On July 12, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir formally announced the ‘one-point’ movement.
New Age correspondent in Lakshmipur reported that a 22-year-old youth, Md Sajib, was killed and over 50 others injured as the BNP road-march came under attack by the police and the activists of the AL in front of Diabetic Hospital in the district town on Lakshmipur-Ramgati Road at about 5:30pm.
The district BNP joint convener, Hasibur Rahman, said that police and AL activists attacked and opened fire on their peaceful road-march programme.
Lakshmipur superintendent of police Mahabuzzaman Ashraf claimed that the BNP brought out a procession to commit ‘destructive activities’ for which they had to open fire to bring the situation under control.
He claimed that 10 police personnel were injured in the BNP activists’ attack.
In Khagrachari, over 100 people were injured as AL and BNP activists locked in clashes in the district town on Tuesday morning.
The clash broke out at Shapla Chattar area in the district town at about 10:30am when local BNP leaders and activists brought out their march as part of the party’s central programme, United News of Bangladesh reported.
In Pirojpur, at least 20 people were injured as BNP leaders and activists clashed with police during the party’s march in the district town.
Pirojpur Sadar police station officer-in-charge Abir Mohammad Hasan said seven policemen were injured during the clash.
The incident took place in front of the local fire service and civil defence office at about 12:00 noon.
District BNP convener Alamgir Hossain claimed that 10-15 BNP activists and its affiliated bodies were injured after police charged them with batons.
In Dhaka, the road march organised by the BNP came under attack allegedly by activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student organisation of the ruling Awami League, in front of the Government Bangla College at Mirpur in Dhaka around noon.
The road march began from Gabtali, and a group of people began to hurl brickbats on the road march from inside the college at about 12:00 noon, witnesses said.
They said that a group of BNP activists vandalised the college gate and set fire to a motorcycle.
However, the march went ahead.
Witnesses said that the last part of the march was attacked again, and brickbats were thrown from inside the college.
The police later brought the situation under control.
Jaminur Rahman, the additional deputy commissioner for Darus Salam Zone in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said some 20 people were injured and received treatment in nearby hospitals and clinics. Most of the injured are students at Mirpur Bangla College, he said.
In Kishoreganj, over 50 BNP activists were injured during clashes between the BNP and police in Kishoreganj town in the afternoon.
At least eight of the injured had rubber bullet wounds.
Tariquzzaman Parnel, organising secretary of the Kishoreganj district unit of Juba Dal, claimed that police attacked their peaceful procession.
Mohammad Daud, officer-in-charge of Kishoreganj Sadar police station, said when a BNP procession was passing through the Rothkhola area from Gurudayal College in Kishoreganj town, they were stopped by police.
At one stage, the BNP supporters started throwing bricks at the police. In retaliation, police charged the BNP activists with truncheons, lobbed teargas shells, and fired rubber bullets to bring the situation under control, he said.
The BNP supporters vandalised police vehicles, and 10 policemen were injured during the clash, the OC said.
Teargas shells were used during the clash, as confirmed by the OC. But he could not immediately say the number of rubber bullets fired.
In Bogura, BNP leaders and activists wanted to march outside the authorised area but were prevented by police.
In this clash between BNP activists and police, 10 policemen and more than 50 BNP supporters were injured.
Bogura superintendent of police Sudip Kumar Chakraborty said that the police stopped the march at Yakubia crossing when it tried to go to Satmatha, the main centre of the city, without following the approved roadmap.
Enraged by this, the party leaders and activists started throwing bricks and sticks at the police.
Eight to 10 cocktails exploded, the police superintendent said, adding that police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to control the situation.
Meanwhile, at least 27 students fell ill after inhaling the tear gas that police fired to disperse BNP supporters during a clash in Bogura.
The victims, students of Yakubia Girls High School, were rushed to Mohammad Ali District Hospital.
Shafique Amin Kazal, a resident physician at the hospital, confirmed the matter to reporters.
In Feni, more than 100 people, including policemen and journalists, were injured in a clash between BNP activists and the police over the party’s road march in Feni district town.
The clash broke out in front of Islampur Road at about 4:00pm when the BNP leaders and activists were returning from the march.
Feni superintendent of police Zakir Hossain said some BNP supporters started throwing bricks and cocktails at police personnel at the end of the road march. At that time, police had to fire tear gas shells and blank shots for self-protection.
Feni BNP member secretary Alal Uddin Alal claimed that police suddenly started firing on them when they were peacefully returning home from the march, leaving dozens of BNP activists and leaders critically injured.
‘Police brought the situation under control, and additional police have been deployed at the site to handle any unexpected situations,’ the police official added.
Ruhul Amin Sarker, assistant mass education affairs secretary of Mymensingh south district Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, died of cardiac arrest during the road-march programme in Mymensingh on Monday, the BNP said in a press statement.
A statement issued by Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki and executive coordinator Abul Hasan Rubel said that the road-march programmes of Ganatantra Mancha, a combination of six political parties in simultaneous movement with the BNP, came under attack in Chattogram and Rangpur districts.
