At least nine people, including five police personnel and two journalists, were injured in clashes between BNP-led 18-party alliance activists and the police in Chittagong city and Sitakunda upazila in the district on Friday.
In Sitakunda, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir allegedly swooped on a police van at Barabkunda area at around 6pm, leaving seven injured, said Sarif Mafizur Rahaman, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Sitakunda police station.
Later, police managed to disperse the attackers and take control over the area after an hour, he said.
The injured were Sitakunda police station ASI Kamal Hossain, Constables Mujibullah, Ruhul Amin, Korshed Alam and Rafiqul Islam, and two locals Ashanullah, 60, and Manik, 23.
Of them, Ashanullah, Manik and Constable Mujibullah were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in critical conditions, while the rest received primary treatment from local hospitals, said Nayek Hamidur Rahman of the CMCH police outpost.
Meanwhile, in the port city, several hundred opposition activists went on a rampage at Wasa and Ispahani intersections, while returning from a rally at Chittagong’s Kazir Dewri area.
At least two journalists were assaulted by Shibir men during the incident.
The police said several hundred BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men vandalised Amin Centre, a shopping mall owned by Primary and Mass Education Minister Dr Afsarul Amin Chowdhury, at the city’s Ispahani intersection at around 4:45pm.
They vandalised the glass-wrapped front of the four-storied shopping centre and adjoining four to five buildings, said Mainul Islam, officer-in-charge of Khulshi police station.
A senior official of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the alliance activists were led by the followers of war crimes convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, adding that the attackers intended to loot the Amin Centre.
Yusuf Ali, president of Amin Centre Traders Association, said they closed down the shutter of the market, sensing the miscreants’ intention.
The Shibir men also allegedly assaulted Nasiruddin Tota, senior reporter of Banglavision, and Farid Uddin, cameraperson of ATN Bangla, said police and witnesses.
Later, police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel dispersed the protesters by firing blank rounds and lobbing tear gas canisters, said the OC of Khulshi Police Station.
Meanwhile, another section of BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men blocked the Wasa intersection at 5pm by setting tyres, bamboos, sticks and branches of trees on fire.
Traffic movement on the adjacent streets was halted for half an hour, before police brought the situation under control, witnesses said.
Elsewhere in the port city’s Bahaddarhat and Agrabad areas, Awami League and BNP activists locked into chase and counter-chase, while going to rallies of their respective parties.
Additional police forces, Rapid Action Battalion and BGB personnel were deployed at key points of port city, said Banaz Kumar Majumder, additional commissioner (crime and operation) of the CMP.
Hundreds of leaders and activists of BNP-led 18-parties alliance gathered at the rally in Kazir Dewri intersection at around 3pm, demanding the next parliamentary elections be held under nonpartisan neutral government.
Speakers at the rally said the Sheikh Hasina-led government had become illegal from Friday and blamed her for grabbing all rights of the citizens.
They urged the premier to leave power for the sake of public interest, adding that the public themselves would remove her if she refuses to do so voluntarily.
They also said the BNP-led 18 party alliance will take position in the city’s roads to regain democratic rights of the public.
Abdullah Al Noman, vice-chairman of BNP, was the chief guest at the programme, where alliance lawmakers, leaders and activists of Chittagong city and district unit also attended.
The AL leaders held their pre-scheduled rally on the Shaheed Minar premises at around 4pm, where they said the upcoming national polls will be held under an interim government led by Sheikh Hasina.
Awami League lawmaker Engineer Mosharraf Hossain addressed as the chief guest in the rally, which was presided over by ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, former city mayor and president of the city unit of the AL.
Mosharraf said the next election will be held according to the constitution and there was no way to violate the provisions of the constitution.
The ruling party expects all political parties to take part in the national polls, he said.
Several thousand AL leaders and activists took part in the rally.