The police on Wednesday detained 244 people linked to the Awami League, activities of which are banned, as they brought out processions at places in the capital demanding the ‘restoration of democracy’ and the return of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to the country.
Thousands of the party leaders and activists simultaneously took to the streets of the capital’s Gulistan, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Agargaon and Panthapath in the afternoon and brought out flash processions in the areas.
Following information of AL processions, army personnel were deployed in various areas.
During the arrests, 14 cocktails and seven banners were seized from the detainees, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s additional commissioner (crime and operations) SN Md Nazrul Islam said at a press briefing at DMP media centre in the capital.
‘The detentions were made following information that the leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliates were gathering at various points in Dhaka to hold flash processions to disrupt law and order,’ he said.
Nazrul claimed that some AL members were staying in rent-free apartments and using them as bases to mobilise flash mob-style protests.
Alleging that the AL people were residing in hotels, apartments and hostels across Dhaka, he urged the city dwellers to provide information if they knew anything.
‘If people provide us with information, we will conduct operations and arrest these individuals. Arresting them will reduce the number of flash mobs. The identities of informants would remain confidential,’ he said.
Nazrul also said that some of the detainees confessed that they were given money to participate in these processions.
The police were trying to collect information about the financiers, shelter providers, and people who gathered participants in these processions, he added.
Of the detainees, 100 people were detained by the metropolitan police’s Tejgaon Division, 50 by the Detective Branch, 27 by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, 55 by Ramna Division, five by Gulshan Division, four by Mirpur Division, and three were detained by Uttara Division.
Despite a ban on its activities, AL supporters have continued to organise scattered demonstrations, which the police described as flash processions designed to disrupt public order ahead of elections likely to be held in February 2026.
Following this, field-level officers of the DMP are under mounting pressure, while three police officials of Mohammadpur were withdrawn from their posts on charges of negligence of duty, reportedly during a political procession.
Meanwhile, ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· staff correspondent in Chattogram reported that supporters of the Awami League and the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League brought out a flash procession in the city Wednesday morning.
Khulshi police station officer-in-charge Md Shahin said that a few BCL activists brought out the flash procession at about 10:30am.