BNP rally foiled amid violence

Downtown Dhaka turned into a battlefield yesterday as BNP activists and police clashed, leading to the death of a policeman and a ward-level BNP leader.

Many others were injured.

The opposition party has called a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal today, in response to the police action that forced BNP to abruptly end its Nayapaltan grand rally.

Separately, Jamaat-e-Islami has also called for a nationwide daylong strike in protest of police action and arrests of its leaders and activists from itsrally in Arambagh.

The ruling Awami League vowed to resist the hartal at any cost. It will also hold "peace rallies" across the country today.

The developments raise the spectre of violence in the lead-up to the national election slated for January.

Although the BNP programme was peaceful in the beginning, tension flared up as the day wore on.

At least 10 vehicles and a police box were torched while over a dozen vehicles were vandalised during the clashes that took place in Kakrail, Nayapaltan, Bijoynagar, Malibagh, Arambagh areas and near Matsya Bhaban.

Dozens of people, including law enforcers, BNP activists and journalists, were hurt in pitched battles.

The streets in those areas were strewn with brick chips and the air was thick with smoke as law enforcers lobbed hundreds teargas shells, threw sound grenades and used firearms to disperse the BNP leaders and activists who had gathered at Nayapaltan and adjacent areas since morning.

Later at the night, three more vehicles were torched by arsonists in the Kalshi area of Dhaka city, Hemayetpur in Savar, and Konabari in Gazipur, police said.

Tension had been high over the last few days centring on the high-stake BNP and AL rallies within a radius of two kilometres.

The BNP organised its rally, joined by tens of thousands of its activists from Dhaka and elsewhere, in front of its headquarters to press home its demand for elections under a non-partisan interim government. The AL held its "peace and development rally" at Baitul Mukarram south gate to counter BNP's.

HOW THE CLASH SPREAD

Since morning, BNP leaders and activists started thronging the rally venue indroves, chanting anti-government slogans. By 11:00am, the entire road stretching from Kakrail intersection to Notre Dame college in Arambagh was packed by party activists and supporters.

Things started to heat up around 11:30am when the ruling party activists on two pickups and a bus were stopped by BNP activists near Kakrail mosque. The AL men were heading towards the Baitul Mukarram mosque to attend their rally, police and witnesses said.

The BNP activists vandalised the pickups and the bus, and a clash ensued. Police present at the spot detained one man involved in vandalism, they said.

Following the clash, more BNP activists rushed to the spot and were seen intercepting pedestrians. Around 12:30pm, they started chanting slogans denouncing police and hurling brick chunks at them, according to our correspondents present at the scene.

Another clash broke out between BNP activists and law enforcers in front of Kakrail mosque around 1:00pm. The law enforcers threw sound grenades and tear shells to disperse them, our correspondents report.

The demonstrators responded by throwing brick chips, and charged the law enforcers with sticks, prompting a chase and counter-chase.

The protesters assaulted several journalists and police members there. A police box near Kakrail Church was torched, while another in front of Kakrail mosque was vandalised. A minibus and a microbus were torched in front of the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.

The clash between the BNP activists and police later spread to Nightingale area. Chased by police, the demonstrators broke into two groups -- one going towards Nayapaltan and the other towards Shantinagar.

Border Guard Bangladesh members were deployed to defuse tension in the area.

BNP RALLY FOILED

Around 3:00pm, police approached the BNP headquarters at Nayapaltan from two sides -- Fakirapool and Nightingale intersections. They opened blank fire and hurled sound grenades as they reached near the rally venue. The BNP activists lobbed brickbats in retaliation, witnesses said.

Amid police action, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the hartal with a hand mike.

"The Awami League activists and police are out to foil our peaceful rally by firing gunshots and throwing sound grenades. We call upon the people to rise," he said.

Senior BNP leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul, reached the rally venue around 12:00pm.

Everything was going on smoothly till 1:30pm when sounds of flash grenades, coming from Nightingale intersection, got louder with the area enveloping in black smoke.

"Don't be afraid of the sound. This sound is the sound of victory and freedom," Abdus Salam, convenor of Dhaka South City unit BNP, told the agitated party leaders and activists.

But things got out of control after teargas canisters and sound grenades were used, forcing BNP to leave the venue.

'POLICE DID THEIR JOB'

In the evening, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said BNP supporters showered brickbats on police, burnt cars and buses, killed a cop and then called for a hartal.

"We want to assure you that if anyone blocks roads, vandalises and sets fire to vehicles, we will take action. Everything will go on normally," he told reporters after visiting the injured police personnel at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

"A policeman was hacked to death. We have pictures. A Chhatra Dal leader brutally beat him up. He was not only beaten but attacked with a machete," he said.

He added the BNP activists attacked an Awami League procession and set fire to the pickups carrying the leaders and activists of the AL.

"They broke the gate and entered the Chief Justice's house. In such a situation, police cannot remain silent. Police did their job and dispersed them," the minister said, adding that BNP activists also set fire to Rajarbagh police hospital and an ambulance.

"Our police force dealt with them with great patience…. They [BNP] are trying to create a situation similar to 2014," he added.

At a press briefing later in the night, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman also warned of legal actions against violence and vandalism in the name of today's hartal.

"We will take legal action by applying maximum force if anyone tries to harm people's lives or properties in the name of hartal," he told reporters at the DMP Media Center around 10:45pm.

THE DEADS AND ARRESTS

Shamim Mia, from Mugda in the capital, succumbed to his injuries sustained during clashes in Nayapaltan area in the afternoon.

BNP claimed he was a ward-level leader of Jubo Dal, although his family could not confirm his political affiliation.

He was taken to the Rajarbagh Central Police Hospital in a critical condition, where doctors declared him dead.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Rezaul Haider, director of the hospital, said there was no sign of injury on his body.

He is believed to have died of a heart attack, added Rezaul.

Earlier, Aminul Parvez, a constable of DMP's CTTC unit, died of injuries he sustained during a clash in Fakirapool, the DMP media cell told The Daily Star.

Meanwhile, BNP in a statement last night claimed over 1,000 of its activists were injured and bullet-hit. More than 300 were detained by the police yesterday.