The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party announced to observe dawn to dusk hartal across Bangladesh on Sunday after they were forced to call off their Saturday’s grand rally amid attacks from police and supporters of the ruling Awami League.
The resulting clashes near the venue of the opposition in the city’s Naya Paltan area left at least two people—a police member and a leader of the BNP’s youth wing, Juba Dal—killed and injured scores.
The deceased are Aminur Parvej, a police constable, and Shamim Molla, a Juba Dal leader of the Mugda Thana unit.
Partners of BNP’s simultaneous movement also extended support to BNP’s hartal, while Jamaat-e-Islmai called dawn to dusk hartal across the country separately on Sunday, protesting the police arrest of the party activist and the attack on BNP’s peaceful rally on Saturday.
According to police, BNP, and other sources, over 1,000 people, including over 100 policemen, over 30 journalists, and hundreds of BNP leaders and activists, were injured during the clashes at Kakrail, Bijaynagar, Nightingale crossing and Fakirapool.
In a statement, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that over 1,000 party activists were injured. Among the injured, 300 were admitted to different hospitals in the city, he said.
AL presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak said that at least 30 of its leaders and activists, including four women leaders, were injured during Saturday’s clashes.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner for operations Biplob Kumar Sarkar told New Age that over 100 policemen were injured during the clash.
He said that no significant numbers of opposition activists were detained during the clashes, as police were rather busy controlling the riots and protecting public property.
Earlier in the day, the rally venue and surrounding Kakrial, Sintinagar, Bijaynagar, and Fokirapool areas were filled with BNP activists by noon.
Hundreds of thousands of BNP leaders and activists from different parts of the country joined the BNP grand rally, defying the police arrest drive and other obstructions.
Several leaders and activists of the BNP alleged that they experienced slow internet in the Naya Paltan rally area before the start of the rally.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission reduced internet speed in BNP’s Naya Paltan rally area, they alleged.
‘Like in the past, the government has again shut down the internet,’ BNP media cell convener Zahir Uddin Swapan told reporters, calling the gesture ‘digital torture’.
Though the rally was scheduled to start at 2:00pm, BNP leaders and activists started taking positions at the venue on Friday night.
As police marched towards the BNP rally amid clashes, the party’s secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam, called off the programme amid clashes and announced the strike for Sunday around 3:00pm.
BNP leaders left the stage immediately.
Witnesses said that the clash broke out when police intercepted the BNP activists as they were marching from Nightingale crossing to Paltan crossing around 12:30pm.
Awami League activists wielding sticks, rods, logs, and bamboo stick joined the police in an attack on opposition activists.
During the clash, the protestors pelted stones targeting government residences and offices in Kakrail, including the outer gate of the Chief Justice’s residence, and pelted stones at the windowpane of the judge quarters and audit building, among others.
The protestors also torched two parked microbuses in front of the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, and a waste-laden pickup in Segun Bagicha.
The clashes gradually spread to other areas, including Nightingale crossing, Bijaynagar crossing, and Paltan crossing, to continue until evening.
Police opened indiscriminate firing of rubber bullets, tear gas shells, and sound grenades and charged batons at the opposition activists, who replied by hurling brickbats and marble balls at police personnel.
In the face of a police attack, the BNP activists moved to different alleys in Paltan and Bijaynagar and started attacking policemen from there. Police chased the activists inside the alleys.
The ruling Awami League activists then joined the police in attacking BNP activists.
The BNP activists then spread into areas of Shantinagar and Arambagh and continued attacking police from there.
During clashes at Fakirerpool, ambulances, cars, and motorbikes were set on fire inside Central Police Hospital, and windows of the buildings were also vandalised there.
A hospital staff member said that 16 motorcycles, two ambulances, and a car were torched inside the hospital.
Several other motorbikes were also torched in different areas.
Several dozen vehicles were set on fire in some other places, such as Kakrail and Malibagh.
At about 5:15pm, a bus was torched in front of the Islami Bank Central Hospital, located near the BNP party office.
The bus driver, Monir Hossain, said a man clad in a jacket inscribed DB police poured liquid and set fire on the bus.
DMP spokesperson and deputy commissioner Faruk Hossain said it was a ploy to defame the police through an act of sabotage.
Fire Services and Civil Defence reported 22 incidents of arson attacks during the clashes.
DMP spokesperson Faruk said that BNP activists were behind the arson attacks.
He said that over 100 people were injured and a police constable was killed during the clashes with BNP activists.
Police and ruling Awami League activists took control of most of the streets by the evening and started searching for the opposition activists.
The Awami League activists checked many people by accusing themselves of BNP activists, tortured them indiscriminately in front of policemen, and later handed them over to the police.
Police placed barricades at Nightingale crossing and Fakirapool crossing in the evening, stopped vehicular movements there and took control of the street in front of BNP’s Naya Paltan central office.
DMP detective branch joint commissioner Khandaker Nurunnabi said that the road was blocked for public security reasons.
The Border Guard Bangladesh director (operations), Lieutenant Colonel AM Zahid Parvez, said that they deployed 12 platoons of force in the capital in coordination with DMP and would continue as long as DMP desired.
He also said that more platoons were kept on standby. Similarly, more platoons were also kept on standby across the country.
The United States condemned the political violence that took place in Dhaka on Saturday, a US embassy to Bangladesh said in a statement.
‘The reported killing of a police officer, a political activist, and the burning of a hospital are unacceptable. As is violence against civilians, including journalists,’ it said.
‘We call for calm and restraint on all sides. We will be reviewing all violent incidents for possible visa restrictions,’ the statement added.
