The High Court (HC) on Wednesday granted a six-week anticipatory bail to 102 BNP activists and leaders including national executive committee’s Organising Secretary Mahbube Rahman Shamim in four cases over clash with police in the port city’s Kazir Dewri area on January 16. An HC bench of Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice Mohammad Aminul Islam granted the bail after hearing a petition, lawyer Mujibur Rahman, a counsel of the BNP, said. Read more: SC upholds bail of Fakhrul and Abbas, no bar to release  Md Idris Ali, office secretary of Chattogram Metropolitan unit BNP, confirmed the news. City unit BNP Convener Dr Shahadat Hossain and Member Secretary Abul Hashem Bakkar, among others, secured the bail. On January 16, a clash broke out between the BNP supporters and police when a BNP rally was going on in front of the party office in the Kazir Dewri area. At least 30 people from both the BNP and police were injured in the clashes while law enforcers detained 20 people. Police sued some 200 BNP men in four cases on that night.

At least 12 people, including 5 cops, were injured as the activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and police locked in a clash in the Kazir Dewri area of Chattogram on Monday. BNP's Chattogram unit arranged a protest rally in front of the party office at Nasiman Bhaban on Monday to press home its 10-point demand and to protest electricity price hike. When BNP leaders and activists were going to join the rally around 3:30pm, police charged with batons to disperse them, triggering the clash, said Idris Ali, former organising secretary of Chattogram unit BNP. At least 7-8 BNP activists were injured as police baton-charged and fired shots, said the BNP leader. Read more: Police-BNP clash: Ctg BNP convener, 74 others sued However, Mostafizur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (South), said that police made arrangements for a peaceful rally but the BNP men attacked the police, leaving 5 policemen injured. The BNP activists also set a police motorcycle on fire and vandalised several shops in the area during the clash, he added. Later, additional police force rushed to the spot and fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. Read more: Police sue 50 BNP activists over Thursday's clash in Rangpur; 4 arrested So far 20 people have been arrested, added the officer.