BNP central office in Dhaka reopens after 4 days of police raid

Bangladesh Nationalist Party organising secretary and acting secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince talks to reporters before entering into the party central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka, on Sunday. Police did not allow anyone to enter into it in four days following raid at the office on December 7, 2022 ahead of the perty’s December 10, 2022 Dhaka rally– UNB photo.

Bangladesh desK : Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka was reopened on Sunday noon, a day after holding the opposition party’s Dhaka divisional rally in the capital and four days after closure following police raid at the office.

Some BNP leaders led by party organising secretary and acting secretary Syed Emran Saleh Prince went to the BNP office at about 1:00pm and entered the office with some lawyers and journalists at about 1:15pm.

Later they inspected the whole office.

Talking to the reporters, Emran Saleh said that the police vandalized the furniture and valuables of the office. They also seized the office computers and other equipment.

“We will prepare a list of the losses made at the office by the police,” he added.

He also asked the lawyers, journalists and party leaders and activists to enter the office carefully as pieces of glasses were scattered everywhere at the office due to the vandalism.

On Wednesday, a Swechchhasebak Dal leader was killed and scores of others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Naya Paltan central office ahead of its December 10 rally.

In the early hours of Friday, a team of Detective Branch of police picked up Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital city.

On Friday, a Dhaka court sent Mirza Fakhrul and Abbas to jail rejecting their bail petitions in the case.

Later they were shown arrested in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act with Paltan police station over Wednesday’s clash.

On Thursday, a Dhaka court sent 445 BNP leaders and activists including Annie and Salam to jail in two cases filed over Wednesday’s violence.

The police authorities on Thursday night assured BNP of reopening the office from Friday morning but they didn’t allow anyone to enter the area since Sunday morning.