A Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader was killed in police firing in Sonarampur union under Bancharampur upazila in Brahmanbaria on Saturday.
The victim, Nayan Mia, 20, son of Md Rahmatullah of Char Shibpur village of Sonarampur union under Bancharampur upazila was shot in the belleyby the police in the afternoon in Sonarampur union and later was declared dead after being rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said police.
Nayan was a vice-president of Sonarampur unit of JCD.
With this, at least six leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party were shot dead by police in Bhola, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Jashore and Brahmanbaria since late July 2022.
BNP central executive committee member Abdus Sattar Patwary said that leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies had been distributing leaflets in Sonarampur union on Saturday afternoon for campaigning for the party’s Cumilla divisional rally, scheduled to be held on November 26.
The police suddenly intercepted the opposition activists and opened fire on them, leaving around 20 injured.
Nayan was shot in the belly and was rushed to DMCH in a critical condition and emergency doctors at the DMCH declared him dead at about 8:00pm, said Sattar.
DMCH police outpost in-charge Bacchu Mia said that Nayan had bullet wound in his belly and died at the hospital.
Local BNP leader Mohammad Delwar Hossain said that police opened fire on their leaflet distribution programme without any provocation.
The locals said that, after distributing leaflets, the opposition leaders and activists brought out a procession from Molla Bari area. They marched through Bancharampur Bazar, police station and upazila complex area. Later, they again gathered in front of Molla Bari Mosque.
Police, then, tried to arrest BNP leader Sayeduzzman, which trigged a scuffle between the BNP leaders and activists with police. At that time Nayan was shot by police.
Brahmanbaria additional superintendent of police Mollah Mohammad Shahin said that the opposition activists brought out procession with anti-government slogans.
Police tried to stop the procession, but the BNP leaders and activists tried to snatch away police firearms, he said.
The policemen opened birdshots to save themselves and firearms and Nayan was shot there, Shahin said and added that six policemen, including officer-in-charge of Bancharampur police station, were injured in the attack.
Police killed two opposition leaders in Bhola at the end of July and in early August when the opposition party had staged demonstrations against the government’s failure in tackling the prices of essential commodities.
Two more opposition activists were shot dead by police during procession in Narayanganj and Munshiganj in September and another BNP activist was killed in Jashore.
