Police vehicle attacked, 3 officers assaulted during banned BCL-Jubo League Gopalganj march
In Gopalganj Sadar Upazila, a police vehicle was attacked and vandalised from a rally organised by the banned Chhatra League and the Jubo League, whose activities are prohibited.
Chhatra League is the student wing and Jubo League the youth wing affiliated with Awami League whose activities are banned.
During this time, three police officers were assaulted.
This incident took place on Saturday afternoon in the Kheyaghat area of Raghunathpur union of Sadar Upazila.
Gopalganj's Superintendent of Police, Md Habibullah, confirmed this to Prothom Alo.
The injured individuals are Sub-Inspector (SI) Fulmia and Constables Shaukat and Jasim from the Sadar police station.
In a video spread on social media, a group of young individuals can be seen heading towards an intersection with a rally while chanting slogans like "Joy Bangla" and "Bangladesh will smile when Sheikh Hasina arrives. " They were seen carrying hockey sticks and split bamboo sticks.
A police vehicle was parked near the intersection, with the driver inside. Three police officers were standing nearby, one of whom was seen talking on a mobile phone and gesturing for the young men to move ahead with their rally. At one point, the youths in the rally began vandalising the police vehicle. The driver was inside during this time.
Amidst the vandalism, the driver started to drive the vehicle forward. At this time, the youths chased the vehicle and continued to vandalise it. A police officer was seen trying to restrain them. After the vehicle had moved a bit, the youths started attacking the police officers. Some of the youths were seen trying to stop the attackers. Despite this, some continued to beat the police officers. Eventually, the police officers ran to the vehicle and drove away.
Superintendent of Police Habibullah said that a team from Gopalganj Sadar police station was on regular patrol. In the afternoon, the police members were resting after stopping their vehicle in the Kheyaghat area of Raghunathpur Union.
At that time, leaders and activists of the Jubo League with prohibited activities and the banned Chhatra League came with a rally and attacked and vandalised the police vehicle. They had hockey sticks and indigenous weapons in their hands. At one point, they assaulted the police officers.
The Superintendent of Police further said that video footage from the scene showed that the police members were standing there and did not intervene with the rally participants. Despite this, the rally participants came and vandalised the police vehicle and attacked the police officers.
Additional Superintendent of Police of Gopalganj, Mohammad Kazi Humayun Rashid, stated that a process is underway to file a case regarding this incident. He mentioned that police operations to arrest the attackers are ongoing.