BNP attends 'Ghaibana Janaza' for students killed in quota protests amid clash with police
Clashes erupted between BNP activists and police before after the ghaibana namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers in absentia) organised by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque today (17 July) for students killed during the quota reform protests.
During the confrontation, BNP activists threw brick chips at police while they were chased away from entering the mosque.
After Mirza Fakhrul came out of the mosque around 1:48pm, some activists from Ganatantra Manch and other allied BNP groups shouted anti-government slogans, leading to another clash with police.
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Police then responded by chasing and firing rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.
Earlier, BNP leaders and activists had gathered near Baitul Mukarram and in various alleys of Paltan after being dispersed by police. Some leaders of Ganatantra Mancha - including Saiful Haque and Junaid Saki - were also stopped from entering the mosque.
There was a heavy police presence in the streets around Baitul Mukarram mosque throughout the morning.
In the morning, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed that police had confiscated the microphone intended for use during the ghaibana janaza program at Baitul Mukarram.
The BNP had earlier announced that the janaza prayer for the six people killed on Tuesday (16 July) in Dhaka, Chattogram, and Rangpur will be held today (17 July) at 1:30pm.
Golam Ruhani, assistant commissioner of the Motijheel zone, told TBS, "BNP or anybody else is not allowed to perform funeral prayers here today. No one will be allowed to perform janaza here."
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas entered the mosque around 1pm. Five minutes later, BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khusru Mahmud Chowdhury joined them amid heavy police presence.
Despite the restriction, the ghaibana namaz took place after Zuhr prayers.
After the prayer ended, Mirza Fakrul denounced the police actions preventing BNP men from attending the prayer event and targeting the quota reform protesters.
During a brief media address at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram, he said, "We [BNP] have decided not to be involved in the quota reform movement, considering the broader interest."
Calling the movement logical, Fakhrul said, "However, we have expressed our moral support for those who are protesting and we will continue to do so."
"The government could have resolved the issue by reforming quotas if it wanted to, but instead, it has resorted to repression and violence against students," he said, urging the countrymen and like-minded parties to join forces and show their full support for any movement aimed at saving democracy in the country.
He alleged that law enforcers staged an operation at their central office in Nayapaltan last night by planting bombs and sticks inside.
"The government is attempting to drive the attention away from the students' legitimate movement," he added.
Mirza Fakrul said the party's next programmes will be announced later in the day.
The Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) conducted a drive at the BNP head office at midnight and recovered around 100 crude bombs, 500 sticks, and five to six bottles of petrol were recovered from there.
Law enforcers arrived at the BNP office shortly after a few explosions took place in front of it.
