The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has alleged early Friday that plainclothes policemen arrested its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas in two separate raids in the capital Dhaka.
«We strongly condemn this cowardly behavior of the Bangladesh government,» the BNP has shared through a message on its social networking site Twitter profile.
The Bangladeshi police have confirmed that both leaders are currently in a police office for questioning over the demonstrations that occurred on Wednesday, reports the portal BDNews24.
«They are in our compound and are being interrogated,» said the head of the police investigation branch, Harun or Rashid, eight hours after they were arrested.
«A situation arose two days ago in connection with the BNP demonstration (planned for Saturday). More than 50 policemen were seriously injured. They are being questioned about these issues.»
On Thursday night, a delegation of the opposition party met for six hours to plan to hold a demonstration this Saturday to call for the prime minister’s resignation, reports the UNB portal.
On Wednesday, one person died and several were injured after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at BNP supporters. In addition, a Dhaka court sent 445 people to jail in connection with the marches called by the opposition party.
The central office of the BNP remained closed during Friday morning, although police authorities have assured its reopening.
