DHAKA – More than 500 people, including several opposition leaders, have been detained following days of violent clashes in Dhaka, sparked by protests against job quotas, police reported on Monday.
“At least 532 people have been arrested over the violence,” stated Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain. Among the detainees are prominent figures from the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), including its third-most senior leader, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, and spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed.
Also detained was Aminul Huq, a former national football captain and senior BNP member, and Mia Golam Parwar, the general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.
The unrest has resulted in the deaths of at least three policemen, with approximately 1,000 injured, including at least 60 critically, Hossain noted.
BNP spokesman A.K.M. Wahiduzzaman told AFP that “Several hundred BNP leaders and activists have been arrested nationwide in the past few days.”
