For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The Bangladesh Army has stepped up its presence in the Secretariat area to ensure security at different important locations and at the entrances to the heart of the government’s administration, reports bdnews24.com.
Approximately 10,000 Ansar personnel came together to besiege the Secretariat on Sunday and held several senior officials, including seven advisors to the interim government, hostage, the Inter-Service Public Relations said in a press release on Monday.
“In order to calm the agitated Ansar personnel, the director general of the Ansar-VDP came to the Secretariat in the afternoon and accepted all the demands of the Ansar personnel. Even then, the agitated Ansar personnel did not leave the Secretariat premises and blocked the Ansar-VDP director general, broke down the No. 3 gate to the Secretariat and tried to enter,” the statement said.
The ISPR said the Ansar personnel then attacked the students present unprovoked, threw brickbats and used sticks to attack the army personnel on duty to provide secretariat security. Six army personnel were injured, and one of them is in critical condition.
When repeated assurances and calls for calm from the deployed army personnel failed to bring the situation under control, 27 rounds of blanks were fired into the air, the press release said.
Additional army personnel were then deployed in the Secretariat area, dispersed the Ansar, and brought the situation under control, the ISPR said.
Afterwards, seven advisors of the interim government, the Ansar DG, senior officials of law enforcement, and the officials at the Secretariat were able to leave the area safely.
The deployed troops then took a number of Ansar personnel who forcibly entered the Secretariat and those who later sought protection into custody and then handed them over to the police, the statement said.