BNP man dies in clash with cops in Panchagarh

A local BNP leader died, and several others sustained injuries, in a clash between police and party activists in Panchagarh on Saturday.

The party leaders identified the deceased as Abdur Rashid Arfin, 51, former joint convener of Moynadighi union under Boda upazila’s BNP unit.

The incident took place around 2:30pm, after BNP activists brought out a procession on the Panchagarh-Dhaka highway in front of the Panchagarh district BNP office.

The rally was part of a mass procession at the district and metropolitan levels to press home the party’s 10-point demand, including the release of party leaders.

BNP leaders and workers threw brickbats and stones at the police, forcing them to fire rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters. The clash lasted for an hour and a half, according to witnesses.

Abdur Rashid Arefin sustained injuries from rubber bullets and police beating, said District Lawyers Association Organising Secretary Habib Al Amin Ferdous.

Meanwhile, local BNP leaders and activists claimed that police opened fire on their procession, leaving Abdur Rashid shot.

Earlier this month, a man died of bullet injuries after police and BNP activists clashed in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters in the capital on 10 December centring their Dhaka division rally.

On 19 November, a Chhatra Dal leader was shot dead in a clash between the activists of BNP and its associate bodies and the police in Brahmanbaria.

Juba Dal activist Shaon Bhuiyan, 22, breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a hospital following a clash between police and BNP men in Munshiganj on 22 September.

Noor-e-Alam, president of Bhola district unit JCD, who sustained bullet wounds during a clash between police and BNP activists on July 31, died at a hospital in the capital on August 3.