BNP protesters storm, vandalise Bangladesh High Commission in London

The Bangladesh High Commission offices in London have been attacked from a protest rally organised by the UK unit of the BNP ahead of the Khaleda Zia’s corruption trial verdict.

Some 100 party supporters carrying banners and placards gathered on Wednesday afternoon at the high commission premises.

They shouted slogans such as “Homes will burn if anything happens to (Khaleda Zia)”, “I won’t let my leader be imprisoned”.

The Britain chapter’s President MA Malique has admitted some protesters entered the high commission and vandalised the photos of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“We went there to hold a peaceful protest and submit a memorandum. But the high commission officials declined to accept the memo,” he said, speaking to bdnews24.com.

“The refusal enraged some people and they ripped off the photos and smashed them.”

Malique also said they had taken permission from authorities to demonstrate in front of the Prime Minister’s Office at Downing Street from 4am to 6am local time on Thursday against the ‘Bangladesh government-ordered verdict’. 

London Metropolitan Police have arrested at the scene Nasir Ahmad, the president of the UK chapter of the BNP’s volunteer wing, Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal.

A staffer at the mission told bdnews24.com the demonstrators were "very aggressive and arrogant" and threatened to beat the embassy staffers, deployed outside to watch over the rally, if they came close to them.

He said Diplomatic Police had been informed and deployed for the protest rally that continued for around two hours from 2:30pm local time.

He alleged four to five protesters led by Malique manhandled KM Shamim Reza, one of the two staffers deployed outside the high commission, ‘without any provocation’. The other staffer was Azizur Rahman.

The protesters also “specifically referred to an embassy officer as an agent of the ruling Awami League and threatened to beat him if they find him anytime”, the high commission official said.

He said the vandalism happened when the police let only one of the protesters in to submit the memorandum, but 10 to 12 of them forced their way into the high commission.

After vandalising some chairs and the portrait of Bangabandhu, the protesters took the photo outside and dishonoured it, said the official who declined to be named.

Police acted ‘reluctantly during the violent protests’, he said and added the local metropolitan police chief came to the high commission later to ‘say sorry’.

The police officer promised to arrest those who had assaulted the mission staffer and carried out the vandalism inside the high commission.

The high commission was sending a note verbale to the diplomatic protocol office, narrating the incident with ‘high security concerns’, he added.

The former prime minister, her son Tarique Rahman, and four others face up to life term in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The BNP chief will also lose the eligibility to run in the next general elections by the end of this year if the court in Dhaka finds her guilty of embezzling Tk 21 million in foreign donation meant for the trust.

Tarique, the senior vice-chairman of the party, has been in London since he went there for treatment after being released on bail during the 2007-08 caretaker government.