It's a nationwide wave of protests, violence, and arrests from the President down, all part of a quota reform movement. Police have filed as many as 525 cases in 51 major cities and districts—like the capital, Dhaka—in at least the past nine days. The number of arrests has climbed to more than 5,500, with approximately 1,100 people detained between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, including 451 in Dhaka. The ones mainly arrested and harassed by the authorities are leaders and members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, along with their affiliated organizations. Those under arrest include Shahid Uddin Chowdhury of the BNP as its Joint Secretary General, Mir Nawaz Ali as the Youth Affairs Secretary, Sade Morched of the Dhaka Metropolitan South Volunteer Group as Secretary, and Kamrul Hasan, Vice-President of the Engineer's Association of Bangladesh.
The Detective Branch also arrested Andalib Rahman Partho, chairman of the Bangladesh Jatiya Party, BJP, from his Gulshan residence in Dhaka.
The protests began on July 1 with students demanding reforms in the government job quota system. It escalated after a violent clash at Dhaka University on July 15 and spread to other parts of the country. Ahead of today's protests, police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion have intensified operations, with RAB detaining 228 people yesterday on sabotage charges, including 55 in Dhaka.
"Another 128 cases were filed at different police stations of the capital, so the total number of cases stood at 201, while the arrested persons numbered 2,209." Joint Commissioner (Operations) Biplob Kumar Sarkar additionally said that the DMP is also strictly maintaining screening points to prevent those involved in the atrocities from fleeing the capital.
OUT OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA In Dhaka district, 19 cases have been lodged and 185 people have been arrested so far, 25 yesterday. Narayanganj reported 14 cases with 374 arrests, including 65 fresh detainees. Gazipur had 28 cases with 334 arrests, including 22 fresh arrests.
Chittagong still remains a hotspot of the crackdown. The law enforcers filed 28 cases and arrested 772 here. Law enforcement also proved effective in the northern districts of Rajshahi filing 269; Bogura, 114; Rangpur, 143 cases and arresting the same number of these criminals. In Sylhet division, there were 10 cases that involved 128 arrests, while in Mymensingh, the largest number of cases was registered in this region with 15 cases entail 149 arrests. The smaller numbers of cases and arrests were found out to be in Barisal and Khulna divisions with 110 and 85 persons detained, respectively.
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