Staff Reporter :
At least one hundred vehicles were vandalised in front of the Bangladesh Secretariat during a clash between the police and the activists of BNP on Tuesday.
The police in turn detained 30 BNP men from High Court premises and in front of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), BNP leaders claimed.
Eyewitnesses said the BNP workers were returning from the makeshift court of Special Judge-5 Md Akhtaruzzaman in Dhaka’s Bakshi Bazar area, where party Chairperson Khaleda Zia went in connection with the Zia Charitable trust graft case.
The police chased the BNP activists in front of the DSHE, widely known as “Shikkha Bhaban,” when they were trying to bring out a procession.
As they were being chased, the activists split into two groups. One group rushed towards the secretariat and vandalised a large number of public and private vehicles, while the other group torched a motorcycle parked in front of the market at Bongobazar.
Maruf Hossain Sardar, Deputy Commissioner of DMP (Ramna zone) said, several hundred leaders and activists of the party brought out the procession in the secretariat area around 3:30pm after BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia came out of a court after giving her statement in self-defense in connection with graft cases.
The BNP men went on rampage as police intercepted the procession, triggering a clash with the law enforcers, the police official said.
Md Abul Hasan, Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh Police Station said, they had picked up 15 BNP activists from the spot.
He also claimed that some police personnel also sustained injuries in the incident.
Ramna Police Station sources said, at least 15 BNP men are in the police custody.
Assistant Organising Secretry of JCD Saidur Rahman Royal said many activists were injured in police attack and police picked up around 30 activists from the spot.
Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal General Secretary Abdul Quader Bhuiyan Jewel also was injured, among others, during the chase, he said.
