At least 25 people, including 10 policemen, were injured in a clash between BNP-Jamaat 20-party alliance men and law enforcers at a rally in Chittagong city yesterday.
Police resisted BNP-Shibir activists who attempted to demonstrate beyond the permitted venue of the rally, the BNP office premises at Nasiman Bhaban, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Assistant Commissioner (Kotwali circle) Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf said.
“Police tried to control the situation when BNP-Shibir men attacked the police with brickbats and exploded crude bombs, opening fire with tear gas shells and shotgun rounds to disperse them,” he said.
Police forces fired more than one hundred rounds of tear gas, shotgun and other firearm bullets to control the situation, Rouf said.
The CMP assistant commissioner told the Dhaka Tribune that law enforcers recovered 20 Molotov cocktails and crude bombs from the BNP rally venue.
Eyewitnesses and police sources said several hundred BNP-Shibir men, carrying placards, banners, bamboo sticks and a coffin meant to symbolise democracy’s demise, chanted slogans and attempted to stage a demonstration at the Kazir Dewri intersection around 3:30pm.
The scuffle between police and BNP-Shibir men over gathering outside the permitted rally venue escalated within moments into a full-blown clash, sources said.
Demonstrators torched three vehicles, vandalised 14 others and set tyres on fire on the roads, eyewitnesses said.
The clashes engulfed the BNP party office where the 20-party alliance rally was being held.
BNP Chittagong city unit President Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and other top alliance leaders, standing on a makeshift stage on top of a truck, tried to calm the situation down.
The leaders later took shelter inside the party’s office, eyewitnesses added.
The clashes turned the area into a battlefield with residents running for cover as panic spread amid the fighting and gun fire.
The hour-long engagement was brought under control after police cleared the streets and raided buildings in the area, including the BNP office, said a police official.
Injury reports came in from a five-kilometre radius area of the port city yesterday that included Kazir Dewri, Nasiman Bhaban, Almas Cinema, MA Aziz Stadium, Enayet Bazar and CWASA intersection.
Following the confrontation, police raided the BNP’s Chittagong city office at Nasiman Bhaban and adjoining areas and took some 200 people into custody, including BNP district (North) unit convener Aslam Chowdhury and district (South) unit vice-president Enamul Hoque, for their alleged connection to the unrest, police sources said.
The injured policemen are Kotwali police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Nurul Islam, CMP reserve force Constables Emilon Chakma and Md Shahzahan, who both sustained bullet injuries to their legs. They were admitted to the Dampara Police Line Hospital, police sources said.
Sources in the BNP said at least 12 of its members were injured in the police action, but party leaders, despite several attempts to contact them, could not be reached for confirmation or comment.
Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Pankaj Barua said four injured people were admitted to the hospital, three with bullet injuries. Their identities could not be confirmed when this report was filed.
Despite several attempts, no BNP leaders could be reached for comment.
