Time Digital News: Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Wednesday said that carrying sticks or iron rods would not be allowed in any political processions and rallies as those posed fear of violence and panic among people.
The metropolitan police’s additional commissioner for crime and operations AKM Hafiz Akhter said that the police authorities had instructed all the deputy commissioners of DMP to grant permission for rallies with the condition of not carrying sticks or national flags binding with sticks.
Hafiz came up with the instructions in a briefing at DMP media centre on Wednesday.
The instructions were imposed following few incidents of violence, attacks and clashes between the activists of the ruling Awami League and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party over holding rallies at different parts of the capital.
Leaders and activists of both the parties attended their rallies and processions carrying iron rods, cricket stamps and sticks and locked in clashes in Dhaka in past few days.
Hafiz said that, in some many cases, national flags were being tied with the top of the sticks and there were incidents of desecrations of national flag during the rallies.
The DMP official said that they would be on streets to maintain law and order during the rallies.
The opposition BNP has been alleging that police deny permission to the party for holding rallies and take the ruling Awami League’s side during the violence.
Asked about the allegations, the police officer said that they did not receive any such complaint from any quarter.
Hafiz said that police usually did not deny permission for rallies, but put restrictions and denied occasionally if there was any risk of maintaining law and order situations.
The opposition BNP leaders have been asking their party activists to carry sticks during rallies since they came under several attacks by Awami League activists at places of the country in recent days.
The BNP leaders had been saying that the sticks were not meant for attacking, rather resisting Awami League’s attacks.
The DMP’s press briefing was arranged over informing media about arresting a burglary group led by a Union Parishad member of Madaripur.
The arrested Azizul Haque Fakir has been involved in burglary in shops since 2016.
Police are trying to arrest his cohorts, said Hafiz.
The police officer said that there was an alarming increase in burglary and mugging in the capital in recent days.
73 cases of burglary were filed in the capital’s police stations in August, but there was a huge number of unreported burglary, Hafiz said.
DMP has compiled details of 4,000 thieves in their database and trying to take actions against them to decrease the crimes, officials said.
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