Police arrested 69 BNP leaders-activists

BNP activists snatch fellows from police

BNP activists snatch fellows from police

Dhaka, Jan 30 (Just News): Police detained a total of 69 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party from near High Court in the capital on Tuesday afternoon as they snatched away two of their fellows, detained earlier by police, from a prison van at the area when BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia had been returning to his Gulshan residence after appearing before a court in the city’s Bokshibazar.

Police said they detained two BNP activists for interrogation and kept them in a prison van near Kadam Foara adjacent to the High Court in the afternoon.

A group of over 200 leaders and activists of BNP, sometimes after 3:00pm, gathered in front of Shikhkha Bhaban blocking the road when a team of police asked them to free the road for smooth movement of traffic, police said.

The JCD activists, one hearing police whistle, came to Kadam Foara near the High Court and, meanwhile, police detained two of the activists for interrogation and took them into a prison van that was parked by the Kadam Foara, they said.

Meanwhile, marchers of a procession of BNP leaders and activists that had been escorting Khaleda Zia’s motorcade from the court reached the place and attacked the prison van and the policemen there at about 3:45pm, they said.

Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia’s motorcade that remained stopped for minutes, passed through the area safely, police said.

They said that the BNP activists vandalised the prison van, beat up the policemen and left the place by snatching two detainees.

Shahbagh police station officer-in-charge Abdul Jalil said the five policemen, including Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Ramna division additional deputy commissioner Ashraful Azim, were injured during the attack.

The metropolitan police’s Ramna division deputy commissioner Maruf Hosain Sarder said BNP activists had broken butts of rifles of two policemen as the duo tried to prevent them from snatching the two activists.

Despite their attack on the law enforcers, he said, police remained patient and detained 69 leaders and activists from the area for their suspected involvement in attacking the police and prison van and snatching two detained persons.

The Shahbagh police station OC said they were scrutinising whether any of the detainees were innocent and that no case was lodged with the police station until 9:00pm.

BNP assistant office secretary Taiful Islam Tipu claimed that the BNP leaders and activists were peace loving and that they were not involved in attacking the police personnel or the prison van.

(Justnews/ys/2330)