Police, BNP activists clash at Naya Paltan

A police baton charge has broken up a protest by BNP activists and several protesters have been taken into custody.

The BNP had announced a ‘black flag display’ rally at the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan to demand the release of party chief Khaleda Zia.

BNP activists began gathering in front of the offices on Saturday morning for the demonstration, which was to start at 11am.

BNP leaders including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Nazrul Islam Khan and Maudud Ahmed, Vice Chairman Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Abdul Awal Mintu, Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Organisational Secretary Fazlul Haq Milon and former MP Nilofer Chowdhury Moni were at the event.

Around 10:30am, several hundred party activists had begun a sit-in with black flags in front of the offices, chanting slogans to demand Khaleda’s freedom.

A large deployment of police and plainclothes detectives had taken up positions in the area with water cannons and armoured vehicles.

The police began a baton charge as soon as the BNP activists had occupied the road. They also used coloured water blasted from the water cannons.

Fazlul Haq Milon and Nilofer Chowdhury Moni were injured in the police charge and taken to hospital.

Police detained 11 activists and put them on police vans.

The BNP secretary general and other leaders were struck by the coloured water and are currently inside the party offices. Activists are chanting slogans from inside.

Police have also destroyed the displays from the protest. Abandoned black flags are littering the streets as police search for BNP activists in the nearby alleyways.

The BNP had applied for permission to hold a mass rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan or Naya Paltan on Feb 22, but had been denied by police.

“A protest cannot be peaceful if it occupies the road and halts traffic,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police Motijheel Division Deputy Commissioner ASM Shibli Noman told the media at the scene. “So we took action.”