Suspected Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters on Saturday beat a policeman to death in Dhaka, torched several police ambulances, attacked a police hospital and vandalised the residence of the country’s chief justice.

The violence took place as BNP supporters hit the streets demanding a caretaker government in place of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League administration to oversee the general election, expected in early January next year.

The BNP called off its programme after its supporters clashed with the police. Party secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called for a nationwide shutdown on Sunday in protest against the police "attack" on BNP supporters and the alleged illegal activities of Awami League leaders.

Dhaka’s streets were desolate till late evening, with police and paramilitary forces deployed in vulnerable areas and Internet connectivity suspended in some parts.

This brought back memories of the three months of unrest the country had witnessed ahead of the general election of 2014, when the BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami had carried out violent protests with a similar demand for a caretaker government.

As the demand was not met, the alliance did not take part in the 2014 election. They did participate in the 2018 elections — when, too, the demand remained unfulfilled — and were routed amid complaints of large-scale electoral malpractice by the Awami League.

Speculation swirled in Bangladesh on Saturday whether the BNP was again planning a long spell of unrest ahead of the next general election.

However, a source in Dhaka said that although the main Opposition party enjoyed the support of a large segment of Bangladeshi society, amid a general anti-incumbency against Hasina’s 15-year-old rule, it had made a cardinal error that might take the steam off its future protests.

“They attacked the home of the chief justice.… This has never before happened in the history of Bangladesh, not even during the Liberation War when we were fighting the Pakistani authorities,” a veteran freedom fighter said.

“Apart from that, BNP supporters set fire to ambulances and attacked a police hospital.... They may have had a case but lost the plot on Day One.”

Media reports from Bangladesh said the clashes between BNP supporters and the police began around 1pm in areas adjoining the BNP’s Nayapaltan headquarters, the rally venue, before spreading to other city areas.

The home of Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan was attacked around the same time as BNP supporters, upset with the alleged police attack on them, spread across Dhaka targeting the law-enforcers and torching vehicles.

Police constable Amirul Islam, who was on duty in the Fakirapool area, was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 4.15pm. Some people had carried the policeman, bleeding profusely, to the hospital, The Daily Star reported.

In the evening, Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters the BNP had initiated the attacks to generate fear in people’s minds. “The BNP alleges that their rally was foiled. But this accusation appears to be politically motivated,” the Dhaka Tribune quoted him as saying.

“The assault on the chief justice’s residence is an unparalleled incident. Strict measures will be taken against those responsible for this attack.”

Multiple sources in Dhaka said the police had launched a massive crackdown in the capital in the evening to arrest BNP supporters involved in arson.

Several ministers said they would organise peace rallies and the administration would thwart any attempts to disrupt normal life.

The dare, a source said, was enough to create an atmosphere of tension on Sunday, the day of the proposed shutdown, which the Jamaat-e-Islami supports.

“It remains to be seen what happens tomorrow or in the coming days.… This state of unrest was the last thing we wanted,” a businessman in Dhaka said.

A source in the diplomatic community in Dhaka said that foreign embassies,
especially those of the US and European countries, were closely tracking the developments.

Recent reports in the Bangladeshi media had said that US ambassador Peter Haas had met home minister Khan and tried to impress on him the need to allow Opposition parties an opportunity to conduct peaceful demonstrations and rallies.

Some media outlets had interpreted the US diplomat’s purported suggestion — which has raised several questions on the nature of democracy in Bangladesh today — as a prod to the government to allow political activities by the BNP and the Jamaat.

“The BNP supporters’ ‘performance’ on Dhaka’s streets must have been an embarrassment for Haas,” a politician aligned with the Awami League said.

A senior editor with a Bangladeshi media outlet, however, said it was too early to conclude the involvement of BNP supporters in Saturday’s skirmishes.

“You can never be sure that all this was not set up to give a bad name to the Opposition.… Everything is possible in Bangladesh,” the journalist said.