The BNP has claimed that a police raid on its central office at Naya Paltan on December 7, two days before the party's mass rally in Dhaka, resulted in damage and theft of property worth Tk50 lakh.
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a member of the BNP standing committee, made the claim at a press conference on Sunday at the office of the party's chairperson in Gulshan.
“The damaged and plundered property was worth roughly Tk50,82,500."
"On December 7, the police disregarded the customary rule that when conducting a raid on a home or office, unbiased witnesses and the owner must be present. The police force and people of the unelected government have shown BNP members merciless cruelty and barbarism, which has exposed the government's undemocratic, authoritarian and anti-people tendencies, and it disgraced the month of victory,'' the senior BNP leader said.
He continued: “According to the police, BNP leaders and workers attacked them with rocks, stones, bamboo sticks and cocktails. The people do not buy the ridiculous claims that they attacked hundreds of thousands of police officers with bricks, stones, bamboo sticks and cocktails while they brandished enormous and lethal contemporary weapons.
“According to the police statement, in the afternoon of December 7, they used 179 teargas canisters, 460 shotgun rounds and 6 sound bombs in total. In reality, the numbers are much higher.”
Along with the withdrawal of all cases against the party's detained leaders and workers, Mosharraf also demanded immediate and unconditional release of the party's secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, and Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas.
At the press conference were BNP standing committee members Nazrul Islam Khan, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Selima Rahman, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and others.
The BNP's Naya Paltan party office was scheduled to reopen on the night of December 8, but the authorities did not allow anyone to enter the area until December 11.
On December 11, a group of BNP leaders, led by the organization's acting organizing secretary, Syed Emran Saleh Prince, arrived at the Naya Paltan office at noon and entered the building at around 1:15pm. They later conducted an office-wide inspection.
Prince claimed in a press conference that law enforcement officers had damaged the party's headquarters during the raid.
"Office furnishings and valuables were damaged by the police. Additionally, they seized various office supplies and equipment,” he added.
