Dhaka: Over 160 people were arrested and curfew extended on Friday in Gopalganj, the home town of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, even as the death toll in Wednesday’s violence rose to five.
According to police, 164 people were arrested and a manhunt is underway for hundreds others with even Navy and Coast Guard men in boats patrolling rivers and canals to nab the suspects involved in the violence in Gopalganj, about 160 kilometres southwest of Dhaka.
Four people were killed in clashes over a National Citizen Party (NCP) rally, which turned into a virtual battlefield as hundreds of supporters of Rahman’s daughter and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina clashed with police, ahead of the planned march of the student-led party.
“The local hospital referred the critically injured bullet-hit Ramjan Munsi to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he died today,” an editor of a local newspaper said, requesting anonymity. Police confirmed that the arrested and scores of unnamed others were accused of allegedly attacking and setting a police vehicle on fire and physically assaulting several officers on Wednesday.
The Bangladesh Army, in a statement, said it used force in self-defence during Wednesday’s clashes in Gopalganj after coming under attack from “a group of unruly people.”
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said a group of people carried out “organised acts of violence” in Gopalganj Sadar centring on a public rally called as part of a political party’s month-long programme.
“The initial wave of violence left several police personnel and journalists injured, while government vehicles and public establishments were vandalised and set on fire,” the statement said.