Protests sparked by power cuts and increases in the value of fuel have erupted across the country in recent months, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepping down in favor of new elections under an interim government.
Friday’s police action comes two days after security forces in the capital Dhaka fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd of thousands of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters for the Dec. 10 demonstration, killing at least one user and wounding dozens.
BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas, a former minister and member of the party’s decision-making body, were taken from their homes around 3 a. m. on Friday (1900 GMT on Thursday), BNP media leader Zahiruddin Swapan. wing told AFP.
“They were plainclothes policemen. Alamgir knew their identity. They told him they had taken him away on the orders of the higher command,” Swapan said, adding that the group did not know where they had been taken.
Police may not be contacted for comment.
Tensions are high in the capital ahead of Saturday’s rally, which the BNP says will draw thousands of supporters from across the country.
Police insisted they would not allow a protest outside the party office, which they called a “crime scene” after claiming to have discovered Molotov cocktails at the scene.
But a provocateur Alamgir told a news conference Thursday that plans were made to move the occasion forward.
BNP spokesman Swapan said police arrested “around 2,000” activists and supporters in an attempt to thwart the Dec. 10 demonstration.
Independent observers said the last two general elections, in which the BNP decimated, were rigged by Hasina’s government.
Fifteen Western embassies issued a delayed joint statement Tuesday calling on the country to allow freedom of expression, nonviolent assemblies and fair elections.
A day later, the UN said Bangladesh will have to live up to its commitments on freedom of expression, press freedom and nonviolent assembly.
Commenting on Wednesday’s violence, Amnesty International’s Yamini Mishra said the incident showed “that the Bangladeshi government has very little respect for the sanctity of human life and sends a chilling message that those who dare to exercise their human rights will suffer terrible consequences. “