Police raid JSD headquarters, many leaders and activists detained

Police are conducting a raid at the central office of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) in Gulistan, Dhaka. The operation began at around 3:00pm on Saturday. Police have detained many people, including a journalist leader who was at the scene.

Mohammad Akhtar Hossain, deputy commissioner of the DMP’s Media and Public Relations Division, told Prothom Alo at around 4:45pm that the raid was conducted after police received information that the slogan “Joy Bangla” had been chanted inside the JSD office and that a meeting was taking place there. Police detained many people from the scene and took them to a police station.

The police official said the identities and other information of those detained were being verified. Legal action would be taken after the verification process, he added.

JSD Office Secretary Sazzad Hossain told Prothom Alo that the party’s central representatives’ meeting was scheduled for Saturday. About 400 leaders and activists from across the country attended the meeting, which began at 10:30am.

He alleged that BNP leaders and activists first arrived at the venue and assaulted JSD leaders and activists. Police personnel were present at the time, he said. Later in the afternoon, police arrived and began detaining the party’s leaders and activists. No one was able to leave the office, he claimed, adding that police were taking people away one by one.

Sazzad Hossain said former president of the Dhaka union of Journalists (DUJ), Abu Jafar Surjo, was also detained from the JSD office. Asked why he had gone there, Sazzad Hossain said Surjo was a supporter of JSD and had therefore come to the party office.