Arrests on across country, raids in capital

• Police arrest 148 in Dhaka in 24 hours since Thursday afternoon
• 2,357 arrests in 209 cases of vandalism, arson, violence in Dhaka
• There were raids in Shaheenbagh, Arjotpara, Mohakhali Thursday night
• Over 7,000 people arrests in the last ten days across the country

At least 231 people were sent to jail while 18 others were arrested and granted police remand in Dhaka on Friday in connection with different cases filed over the recent unrest in the capital centring quota reform protests.

Several more hundreds of people were also arrested and produced in different courts across the country, according to police sources.

They have arrested over 7,000 people in the last ten days in connection with the clashes at different spots across the country, they said.

In Dhaka, police arrested 148 people in the past 24 hours since Thursday afternoon, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Joint Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker.

This brings the total to 2,357 arrests in 209 cases involving vandalism, arson, and violence across the capital, said the police officer.

“We will continue our raids until all the perpetrators are arrested,” he added.

According to a DMP document, police arrested 2,209 people in Dhaka over just two days—Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in a press briefing today, DMP Detective Branch Additional Commissioner Harun Or Rashid told the media that under the guise of the quota reform movement, a planned attack and destruction were carried out to weaken the police.

He said, “Jamaat and BNP cadres brutally beat and killed our two police officers. We saw that state institutions and the police were targeted. They targeted the police in Jatrabari, Shonir Akhra and Rayerbazar areas. They even announced a reward of Tk10,000 for killing a policeman.”

He added that they have lost three police officers in the movement. “But the morale of the police has not broken at all.”

Raids in capital

Different law enforcement agencies on Thursday night launched a joint operation to nab the personnel who were allegedly involved in violence, vandalism and arson attacks in the capital.

This correspondent visited the capital’s Shaheenbagh, Arjotpara and Mohakhali areas which went under raids Thursday night.

Kanchan Miah, a security guard in West Shaheenbagh told TBS that after 9:30pm Thursday a combined raid took place at the locality.

“At first, before the Esha prayer law enforcers announced the raid on megaphones and after 9:30pm street lights were turned off. The whole area turned into a scathing place, people frantically rushed to their homes. It was a fearful night,” he added.

Some parents from the locality claimed that their children were picked up for just joining the quota reform movement.

BNP-Jamaat leaders sent to jail

A Dhaka court today sent six leaders of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami including Sultan Salauddin Tuku to jail in a case lodged over rampaging state-owned Bangladesh Television (BTV) Bhaban at Rampura in the capital.

The five other accused are BNP Organising Secretary Qazi Sayedul Alam Babul, Dhaka North city unit Member Secretary Aminul Haque, MA Salam and Mahmudus Salehin and Jamaat Secretary General Miah Golam Parwar.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arobia Khanam passed the order as police produced the accused before the court after the end of a five-day remand in the case and pleaded to keep them behind the bars till the end of the probe.

Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested a total of 266 people from different parts of the country, including 63 in the capital, on allegations of inciting violence, sabotage and committing arson during the clashes during quota reform protests.

According to police sources, around 600 cases have been filed in different police stations across the country, in which several lakhs of unnamed people have been sued.