World News | One Dead as Police, BNP Supporters Clash in Bangladesh Ahead of Party's Planned Rally

Dhaka, Dec 7 (PTI) At least one person was killed and several others injured on Wednesday when police clashed with angry activists of Bangladesh's main opposition party BNP, amid speculation about a political show off during the party's planned grand rally in Dhaka on Saturday.

"A 30-year-old man has died," a police officer said.

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The staff at the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) told reporters that they were treating several injured opposition activists at the facility.

Inspector Bachchu Mia also acknowledged that the body of the deceased, presumably a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activist, bore multiple pellet injuries.

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Eye-witnesses at the violence scene said police used rubber bullets to disperse opposition supporters who retaliated with crude bombs and stones.

The violence comes amid brewing tensions in Bangladesh over the planned rally of former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Saturday as part of their intensifying campaign against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League.

Police said they were attacked with rocks while clearing roads for traffic along the BNP's Naya Paltan head office.

"We repeatedly asked the BNP men to leave the roads but they defied and turned violent, forcing police to take the action," Dhaka Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner Golam Ruhani told the media.

TV footage showed several BNP leaders and activists, including the party's senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, were detained.

The clashes continued for hours while SWAT teams and several platoons of riot police surrounded the BNP office, positioning water cannons.

The BNP alleged that the police attacked their peaceful rally in the afternoon when activists were gathering at the party office. It claimed that at least two activists were killed in police action.

"It was a planned attack on the BNP leaders and activists. They attacked us with instructions of senior government leaders," Rizvi told reporters before his arrest.

Ahead of the Dhaka rally, BNP staged several largely peaceful public meetings across Bangladesh but alleged that the government tried to upset them by manipulating transport owners to call region wise transport strikes to prevent supporters from joining the rallies.

But Awami League rejected the allegation, saying the BNP might have frightened transport owners prompting them to stay off the road.

The BNP had boycotted the past two general elections in 2014 and 2018 claiming that no election keeping the incumbent government in power will be fair or credible.

Political analysts said BNP has rallied significant support but the party was in a dilapidated shape with its chairperson was convicted on two graft charges and was handed down a 17-year-jail term in 2017 and she spent months in prison.

Zia, a three-time premier, however, was allowed to stay at her home in Dhaka under a special government provision since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and debarred from joining any political activity.

BNP has elected Zia's expatriate elder son Tarique Rahman, also a convict in several criminal and graft charges, who now stays in London.

Several Bangladeshi courts have declared him a fugitive as he failed to appear in person to face the charges, including murder ones.

Jatiya Party founded by deceased former president HM Ershad is now Bangladesh's official opposition party in parliament which is headed by his younger brother GM Quader while Ershad's wife Raushan Ershad is the parliamentary opposition leader.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)