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BNP human chains foiled in 9 districts
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Khagrachhari, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Bhola, Thakurgaon, Mymensingh, and Jhalakathi.
The BNP, which demands election under a non-partisan interim government, has called hartals and blockades almost four days a week since October 29. The party’s October 28 grand rally ended in clashes between police and activists.
Since October 28, many BNP leaders and activists have landed in jail or have been on the run. But yesterday, BNP leaders and activists resurfaced to join the human-chain.
Right after the human-chain programme ended, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called a countrywide 36-hour blockade starting at 6:00am tomorrow.
In Habiganj, 30 people, including two reporters and six police officers, were injured in a clash between police and BNP activists in Sayestanagar around 12:30pm.
Some shops and cars were also vandalised during the clashes, according to locals.
Injured MyTV correspondent Shuvo and Desh TV correspondent Amir Hamza were sent to hospitals.
Kamal Uddin Selim, joint convener of Habiganj BNP, said police attacked BNP men when they were about to wrap up the programme.
Hasibul Islam, additional superintendent of Habiganj police, said teargas and rubber bullets were used to bring the situation under control. He said one person was detained for interrogation.
Additional police officers and water cannons were deployed in the area, he said.
In Narayanganj, pro-AL lawyers assaulted a pro-BNP Jatiyatabadi Lawyers’ Forum leader and foiled the human-chain programme at the court area. They also took away the banners of the forum.
Later, detectives detained four BNP activists.
In Khagrachhari, BNP leaders alleged that their human chain was obstructed and foiled by police.
Activists were forced to conclude the programme in Munshiganj’s Muktarpur around 10 minutes after starting it.
In Faridpur’s Courtpar area, police took away the banner and forced the BNP activists to leave.
In Bhola, BNP men could not hold the protest programme due to police obstruction.
The human chain by the women’s wing of the BNP was obstructed by police in Thakurgaon town. In Mymensingh, police stopped the programme when it was only halfway.
In Jhalakathi, BNP activists could not even start the programmes in front of their party office as they had been surrounded by police.
In Dhaka city, the programme started around 11:00am. The human chain was about 500 metres long on Topkhana Road.
Displaying photos of the arrested relatives, family members chanted slogans demanding their release.
Addressing the programme, BNP Standing Committee member Selima Rahman claimed that failing to find BNP leaders and activists at their homes, law enforcers were picking up their family members.
“Many brothers and sisters find it impossible to sleep at home. If the government cannot locate their sons, they take their mothers, brothers, sisters, or fathers. In some instances, ransom has been demanded for their release,” she said in front of the Jatiya Press Club.
Referring to Information Minister Hasan Mahmud’s recent statement that they would give a befitting reply to the BNP, Selima said, “Who is he to say this? He became a minister through a voterless election.”
She said the government was tormenting people by deploying “muscle men and helmet-wearing forces”.
“Nowhere else in the world are human rights violated like in Bangladesh. The government has shuttered numerous offices, including the BNP’s central office,” she said.
Afroza Abbas, president of Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal, claimed that people associated with the current administration were behind the arson attacks on buses.
“You [journalists] have witnessed that. However, the BNP members were falsely implicated in the cases, subjected to attacks, and forcibly disappeared,” she said.
Family members of the arrested individuals and various human rights organisations also joined the event.
Manju Mridha and his wife were seen standing with the photo of their son Arif Hossain Mithu, a BNP activist from Demra, who was detained by police on November 5.
“We don’t know what our son has done wrong,” Manju said.
A huge number of police personnel were seen in and around the venue. An armoured personnel carrier, water cannon and a prison van were also seen parked across the street.
BNP’s like-minded parties also formed human chains across the country.

W Africa leaders meet as region struggles with coups
AFP, Abuja
West African leaders met yesterday for talks with the region in deepening crisis, after four countries fell under military rule and with risks growing from Sahel jihadist conflicts.
After coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger since 2020, the Economic Community of West African States bloc also saw member states Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau claim attempted coups in recent weeks.
A French military withdrawal from the Sahel -- the region along the Sahara desert across Africa -- is increasing concerns over conflicts spreading south to Gulf of Guinea states Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.
“These military coups are not only based on fake narrative and false justifications; they are also a driver of insecurity in the region,” ECOWAS commission president Omar Touray said in a meeting before the summit.
ECOWAS leaders will meet in Nigeria’s capital Abuja for an ordinary summit where they will discuss delayed transitions back to civilian rule for Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is current chair of ECOWAS and US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee will also be at the meeting to discuss how to support Niger’s return to democratic rule and Sahel security.
Niger -- a key Western partner in the fight against Sahel militants -- has demanded French troops based there leave, while the US still has military personnel in the country.
ECOWAS members have imposed tough economic sanctions on the military regime in Niger, whose troops ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in July.
ECOWAS has demanded Bazoum’s immediate return to the presidency, but the military junta has kept him in detention and says it may need up to three years for a return to civilian rule.
Earlier this month, Nigeria said it was asking the Niger regime to free Bazoum and allow him to fly to a third country, as a step to opening talks on lifting sanctions.
But Niger’s military leaders rejected that option and have asked Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe to act as a mediator.
Before yesterday’s ECOWAS meeting, Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tiani visited Togo on Friday with some of his ministers.
ECOWAS has also left on the table the last option of a military intervention in Niger though analysts say that appears increasingly unlikely.
Transitions back to democracy and elections have also been stalled or left uncertain in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
After French troops began leaving the region, military regimes in Niger, Mali and Burkina, struggling with jihadist violence, hardened their positions and joined forces in an Alliance of Sahel States.
Last month, armed attackers stormed military posts, prisons and police stations in another ECOWAS member Sierra Leone, in what the government called a coup attempt that killed 21 people.
A week later Guinea-Bissau also denounced an attempted coup, with fighting between the national guard and special forces of the presidential guard.