BNP supporters clash with police in Bangladesh, 90 detained

Supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who are demanding polls under a non-party interim government in early 2024, clashed with police in Dhaka after which 90 of them were detained.

The clashes left 20 policemen and six protesters injured.

The leaders were detained on charges of engaging in clashes and vandalising at least 30 vehicles, 10 of which belonged to the police, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Faruque

Hossain, a spokesman for Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) as saying.

The protesters, demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, on Saturday gathered to block traffic on key arterial routes in the capital city. The police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the agitators who attacked police with sticks.

On Friday, the BNP had announced the sit-in programme at all entry points of Dhaka from 11:00 a.m. local time.

Zia, who has thrice been the prime minister, has been in jail since she was convicted in a corruption case in February, 2018.

Hasina’s Awami League government has entered the last year of its third consecutive tenure this year.

Also read: Remembering Tajuddin Ahmad, Bangladesh’s wartime leader and first Prime Minister