Police raid Bashundhara neighbourhood in Dhaka after clashes with university students

Police have raided the Bashundhara Residential Area in Dhaka two days after they clashed with the students of private universities during road safety protests.

No-one was detained in the three-hour operation on Wednesday night, police said.

The law enforcers dispelled speculations that the raid aimed to arrest the students involved in the protests.

It was a routine operation, Moshtaque Ahmed, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told bdnews24.com after the end of the raid around 11:30pm.

“We conduct such operations regularly to arrest drug offenders and listed criminals,” he said.      

He also said they did not arrest anyone in the raid, which was conducted also at Kalachandpur area next to Bashundhara.

On Monday, students of the North South University, American International University of Bangladesh, and Independent University of Bangladesh clashed with police in the area after they expressed solidarity with the movement for safe roads.

Police arrested and remanded altogether 22 students of private universities, including eight from the Bashundhara area, on charges of attacking police and vandalising properties.