35 hurt as cops foil BNP demo in 2 dists

At least 35 people were reportedly injured when police foiled processions brought out by BNP men in Faridpur and Habiganj districts this morning.

Police detained 20 BNP men including Syed Modersar Ali, secretary general of Faridpur district BNP unit and its Joint Secretary General Julfiker Hossan and President of Sadar Upazila BNP unit Roufunabi.

The law enforcers obstructed BNP’s procession in Super Market area in Sadar upazila around 11:30am, triggering a clash between them, reports our Faridpur correspondent.

Police fired 10 shotgun bullets and three teargas shells on the BNP protesters to disperse the BNP supporters, said Md Najim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Faridpur Sadar Police Station.

At least 15 people including two journalists and four policemen injured, the OC said.

Some of the BNP men were also injured during the incident, Shama Obaid, general secretary of BNP central committee, said at press briefing held at Faridpur Press Club.

In Habiganj, at least 20 BNP leaders and activists were reportedly injured when police fired rubber bullets on a procession in Habiganj protesting the verdict of a corruption case against party Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Hundreds of supporters of BNP district unit brought out a procession at Shayestaganj in Habiganj town around 11:00am, our Moulvibazar correspondent reports.

At one stage, police opened fire on the procession without any provocation, the correspondent said quoting GK Ghosh, the party-backed mayor of the municipality.

Yasinul Huq, officer-in-charge (OC) of Habiganj Police Station said police fired rubber bullets in order to disperse the BNP men who were gathering there. But none was injured, he said. 

They misbehaved with policemen, therefore to avoid any untoward situation police opened fire, the OC claimed. 

The BNP has been staging various protest programmes, except for hartal and blockade, since Khaleda landed in jail in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8.

The party submitted memorandums to all the deputy commissioners yesterday and is scheduled to stage demonstrations in all the district towns and metropolitan cities, except for Dhaka, on Tuesday.

As part of the protest programme, the BNP observed a token hunger strike on February 14 and formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on February 12.