'Over 50' detained from check posts at Amin Bazar ahead of rallies

Police detained over 50 people after stopping them at check posts set up in Amin Bazar area since early morning today, said witnesses.

Police were seen searching all vehicles, passengers and some pedestrians.

Dhaka transformed into a city of rallies yesterday. Prior to that, law enforcers set up checkpoints at the capital’s entry points on Thursday which remained in place till the afternoon. Photo: Prabir Das, Rashed Shumon, Amran Hossain

In some cases, they were seen checking mobile phones of the commuters, reports our Savar correspondent.

Witnesses said several teams of police were deployed at the Amin Bazar area. Police were detaining anyone who looked like they could be activists of BNP or its associate bodies, and took them to the nearby 20-bed hospital.

Talking to our correspondent at the hospital, Abdul Kader, one of the detainees, said he is a fish trader from Khulna and supplies fish to the Karwan Bazar wholesale market.

As Kader along with three others were heading towards Karwan Bazar in a car, police detained them around 6:30am and kept them at the hospital along with around 50 others, he said.

BNP organised its “grand rally” at Nayapaltan around the same time. Photo: Prabir Das, Rashed Shumon, Amran Hossain

"We had sent the fish on trucks and were coming to Dhaka by car," he said.

Around 7:15am, police boarded all the detainees on a prison van, except Kader and his co-passengers, a witness told The Daily Star preferring anonymity.

Our Savar correspondent went to the hospital around 8:00am and saw police had brought 20 more people to the place.

The three associate bodies of the ruling Awami League held a “peace rally” near the south gate of Baitul Mukarram. Photo: Prabir Das, Rashed Shumon, Amran Hossain

The detention and checking caused immense hardship for many people who were heading to Dhaka.

However, police claimed they were conducting searches to prevent any untoward incident centring the rallies of BNP and Awami League.

Abdullah Hil Kafi, an additional superintendent of Dhaka district police, said since there were rallies of two major parties in Dhaka, police were searching transport so that no one could carry out any kind of anarchy.

He said they detained some people on suspicion but he could not say the exact number immediately.

Apart from the police members, members of intelligence agencies are also posted at the check posts. They were seen helping police detain people on suspicion.

As our Savar correspondent was performing duties at Amin Bazar area around 8:30am, a member of an intelligence agency threatened him saying he would be detained till 5:00pm. He however left the area after other journalists approached and protested.