Naya Paltan clash: 6 senior BNP leaders detained

Six senior BNP leaders have been detained over the clash between BNP activists and police in the capital's Naya Paltan area on Wednesday.

The six detainees are Dhaka Metropolitan South BNP Convener Abdus Salam, North BNP Convener Aman Ullah Aman, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Joint Secretary General Khairul Kabir Khokon, Khaleda Zia's special assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas and Publicity Secretary Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie.

Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

Earlier on Wednesday evening, police arrested BNP Dhaka Metropolitan North BNP Convener Aman Ullah Aman from the BNP central office in Dhaka.

Before that, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi was arrested from the same office on Wednesday.

Shayrul Kabir Khan, a member of BNP's media cell, said that the police have arrested at least a hundred activists including Aman Ullah Aman and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. However, no number of detentions or arrests have been confirmed by the police.

Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

Led by Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner (Operations) Biplob Kumar Sarkar a unit of Motijheel Division of DB entered the BNP central office at about 5pm to conduct a raid. The leaders and activists who closed the door inside the BNP office were arrested after breaking in. 

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul on Wednesday strongly condemned the police action on BNP leaders and activists and alleged that the government deliberately carried out the attack, reports UNB.

“It's an unjustified action of police. We strongly condemn it,” he told reporters sitting on a footpath in front of Naya Paltan party office after the fierce clash between BNP activists and police that left a man dead and many others injured in the afternoon.

Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

Over 100 BNP leaders and activists, mostly from BNP central office, were arrested after the clash.  Around 20 injured activists were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.