At least 30 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were injured after Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Jubo League (JL) activists allegedly attacked their protest meeting in Noakhali’s Chatkhil municipality on Friday noon.

According to BNP’s Joint Secretary General Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, they had arranged the meeting in front of Chatkhil Alia Madrassah at 4:00pm to protest against the recent price hike of fuel and daily essentials.

“As soon as the Jumma prayer was over, some BCL and JL men attacked and vandalized the stage along with the chairs set for the program. They also attacked our activists on their way to the meeting and injured 30 of them. As a result, we couldn’t carry out our pre-scheduled program,” said Khokon.

Khokon alleged that police had turned a blind eye to the incident.

Read: 27 held over deadly Noakhali clash

Shihab Uddin Shahin, joint convener of Noakhali District Awami League (AL), denied the allegations, saying that the violence happened due to a clash between two opposing groups of district BNP.

When asked about Khokon’s allegations, Officer In-charge of Chatkhil Police Station Md Gias Uddin also said that nothing like this happened.