At least five people were arrested on Monday in connection with a clash between activists of BNP and Awami League during campaigning of Dhaka city corporations’ polls at Wari in the capital on Sunday. Shah Iftekher Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner (Wari division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said police arrested them after a case was filed in this regard on Sunday night.
Those arrestees Sohel, Tuhin, Faruk, Billal and Munna were named accused in the first information report (FIR) of the case filed by Maksud Ahmed, a ward-level leader of Awami League. Supporters of BNP mayoral candidate for Dhaka South City Corporation Ishraque Hossain and those of an Awami League-backed councilor candidate Rokon Uddin clashed during campaigning in the capital’s Wari on Sunday afternoon.
The clash which continued for more than 30 minutes left 15 people, including two journalists, injured. Ishraque blamed the ruling party activists for the incident and said that the attack was made to ruin the election atmosphere. But AL supporters alleged that their rivals were shouting provocative slogans against them, leading to the clash.
The BNP mayoral candidate blamed police of bias and said they could not file any case as Wari police refused to cooperate. Sting operations are being conducted by police to arrest party men to bar them from campaigning, said Ishraque. But he warned, such attempts will not be successful.
He was briefing media in front of his house last night when he made the comments. They have already written about the lack of police cooperation to the returning officer, Ishraque said, adding that they will file a case with a Dhaka court as well.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (Wari division) of DMP, Shah Iftekher Ahmed, said he was not aware of any complaints: “I did not get any complaint copy [from their side] in this regard.”