Staff Reporter :
At least 10 leaders and activists of the BNP, including its senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, were injured as police charged on their procession in the capital’s Mirpur area on Saturday.
Just a day before hearing on a bail petition of their chief Khaleda Zia by a High Court (HC) Bench, they brought out the procession around 11:00 am from the Kitchen Market area at Mirpur’s Section-6 demanding release of party Chairperson and withdrawal of cases filed against the party acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.
As the procession was moving towards Mirpur Section-11, police obstructed it and dispersed the BNP leaders and activists charging batons, leaving Rizvi and nine others injured.
Leaders and activists from Dhaka Metropolitan BNP, Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal gathered at Mirpur-6 and marched toward Mirpur-11 where the procession was stopped by the police. The police used batons to disperse the procession, they alleged.
BNP leader Aminul Haque and Chhatra Dal leaders Omar Farook Kaiser and Saiful Islam Tuhin were also injured in the incident, the BNP activists said.
BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, “We just brought out the procession in a peaceful manner demanding our Chairperson’s release as she was very sick.”
“We just ask for her release and this is by no means a political movement to topple the government. But police suddenly attacked it and charged batons to foil. Many of our leaders and activists, including me, were injured,” he claimed.
Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Mostaque Ahmed denied beating the BNP leaders and activists.
“They left the place on their own when police arrived on the scene,” he said.
