Arsonists torched several buses in different parts of the capital as the Dhaka 18 constituency went to the by-polls on Thursday.
As many as nine buses, including two vehicles used for carrying government staff, were set on fire in the four hours between 12.30pm and 4.30pm, according to the police and fire service.
“The arsonists carried out the attacks posing as passengers. We have collected security camera footage from the scenes to identify the perpetrators,” said the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner Walid Hossain.
He said police suspected the attacks were connected with the by-election.
No casualties were reported, though, according to Russell Ahmed Shikdar at the control room of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.
“Fire fighting units put out the flames. However, no one was injured,” he said.
The first arson incident took place at around 12.30pm in the city’s Nayapaltan after the BNP took out a procession in the area, protesting what it said large-scale rigging in the voting to the Dhaka-18 by-election.
A vehicle owned by the National Board of Revenue was torched in front of an Al Arafah Islami Bank branch, located just opposite the BNP’s Nayapaltan offices.
At around 1pm, a bus, used to carry the staff of state-owned Agrani Bank, was set on fire in Motijheel.
Some 30 minutes later, arsonists set ablaze a bus at the Bangabandhu Avenue in Gulistan.
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At around the same time, a bus operated by Rajanigandha Paribahan was set ablaze at Shahbag. Another bus of the same operator was torched at around 2pm in front of one of the entrances to the Secretariat, just beside the National Press Club.
The seventh incident took place in Nayabazar, where a Dishari Paribahan-operated bus was torched at around 2.30pm. Around 15 minutes later, arsonists attacked another bus in the Paltan area.
A double-decker bus, owned by state-owned BRTC, came under arson attack at around 3pm in Motijheel while in Vatara, a Victor Paribahan-operated bus was torched at around 4.30pm.
Police say the attacks are connected to the by-election.
“We have gone through the security camera footage and found that the perpetrators used combustible materials to set fire to the buses,” DMP Deputy Commissioner Walid told Dhaka Tribune.
According to him, the attackers hurled crude bombs in some places before torching the vehicles.
“We have detained some suspects, who are now being questioned. Any formal arrest is yet to be made over the arson attacks,” Walid said.
However, a source at the DMP confirmed that at least 10 people were held soon after the attacks.
"Nine were detained from the Paltan area and another from Vatara,” said a senior DMP officer, who asked not to be named.
A bus has been set on fire in Gulistan on Thursday, November 12, 2020 | Dhaka Tribune
Voting for the by-polls to the Dhaka-18 constituency comprising wards 1, 16, 43 to 54 under the Dhaka North City Corporation and Airport area, took place from 8am to 4pm.
The BNP claimed the voting was marred by large-scale irregularities and rigging.
It said that ruling Awami League supporters had captured most of the polling booths in the constituency.
“Ruling party goons captured polling stations in Dhaka-18 and drove out the polling agents of the BNP candidate within 30 minutes of the polls opening,” the BNP’s acting Office Secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince told the media at the party headquarters in Nayapaltan.
Law enforcers and polls officials played the role of “silent spectators” as ruling party supporters resorted to vote fraud, he said. “In many cases, they helped the ruling party goons.”
Prince claimed that people were forced to vote for the Awami League candidate by his supporters.
The ruling party candidate, however, dismissed the allegations and accused the BNP candidate of “hiring goons from outside as a way of flexing muscles”.
The first incident of arson attack on buses near the BNP headquarters at Nayapaltan took place following a march by the party’s supporters protesting ‘large-scale irregularities’ in the by-polls.