Staff Reporter :
The BNP staged countrywide demonstration on Sunday in protest against denial of permission by the authorities for holding its rally in the city’s Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday.
However, the party got poor response in the city’s demonstration programme as its leaders and workers were not active. The party brought out processions in some thanas of the capital, but the participation in the processions was thin.
In Gazipur, sporadic clashes erupted between BNP supporters and police when the party men brought out a procession there as part of the countrywide programme. Police obstructed the procession by firing bullets and charging batons.
At least 50 people, including the Mayor of Gazipur City Corporation Prof. M A Mannan, were injured in the incident. Some of them received bullet hit.
BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed at the press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan office yesterday said that police attacked the BNP men in several parts of the city and also in other places of the country. He claimed that police arrested a number of their leaders and workers. He demanded their immediate release.
Meanwhile, the party claimed that the people observed the demonstration programme across the country spontaneously.
According to a press release of the Dhaka city unit BNP, the party brought out processions at Shahjahanpur, Motijheel, Badda, Wari, Gendaria, Tejgaon,Dhanmondi, Ghulshan, Bhasantek and some other thanas in the city. Police arrested five BNP men from the procession of Tejgaon, while two were arrested at Bhasantek.
