Police, 11-Party Alliance Activists Clash Outside Secretariat

A brief scuffle broke out between police and activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance outside the Bangladesh Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday as the alliance attempted to march to the government complex following a protest programme at Muktangan.

The procession, led by Jamaat amir and Leader of the Opposition Dr Shafiqur Rahman, advanced towards the Secretariat after concluding a sit-in at Muktangan.

As the march reached the Secretariat, police stopped the procession, triggering a brief pushing and shoving incident between officers and protesters. The alliance leaders and activists later staged a sit-in outside the Secretariat.

During the march, protesters chanted slogans demanding gas and electricity supplies and calling on the government to step down if it failed to meet public demands.

After remaining outside the Secretariat for around 20 minutes, Dr Shafiqur Rahman said they had come to convey the people's demands but no government representative had responded.

"It takes no more than five minutes to come from the Secretariat, yet no one came to meet us," he said.

He announced that the demonstrators would wait for another five minutes before concluding the programme by condemning the government's failure to respond if no representative arrived.