Soon after videos of the attack on Gono Odhikar Parishad (GOP) President Nurul Haque Nur on Friday night went viral, one man stood out: a person wielding a stick, dressed in a red polo.
Videos showed the man beating up GOP activists in Kakrail and also scuffling with police and security forces officials at the scene.
Many questioned who this man was, why he was assaulting people in such a manner, and why law enforcement had not arrested him.
During the incident, when law enforcement personnel asked for his identity, he introduced himself as a police officer.
Masud Alam, deputy police commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Division, on Saturday, finally answered the question.
The man is Mizan, a police constable and the driver of the Paltan Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC).
Earlier, Masud Alam had told the media that police had started an investigation to identify the man in the red T-shirt.
He said, "If he were truly a police officer, other police personnel would surely recognise him. Who he actually is, is still unknown. Investigation is underway to confirm his identity. We are also trying to find out under what circumstances and why he was released."
Meanwhile, Gono Odhikar Parishad's General Secretary Rashed Khan said the man in the red T-shirt was not beating Nurul Haque Nur, but rather a student leader named Samrat.
In a Facebook post, Rashed Khan wrote, "The man in the red shirt was beating Samrat, not Nurul Haque Nur. Blaming the red-shirted man alone cannot legitimize the attack on Nur and our other leaders. The army personnel who attacked Nur must be held accountable. They even stormed into our office, broke into the bathroom, and left many of our activists bloodied."
It should be noted that on Friday evening in Kakrail, clashes broke out between leaders and activists of the Jatiya Party (JaPa) and the Gono Odhikar Parishad. The violence erupted when members of Gono Odhikar Parishad were marching past the JaPa office. Following this, law enforcement baton-charged, leaving several people, including Nurul Haque Nur, president of Gono Odhikar Parishad, injured.
After the attack, on Friday night, Rashed Khan said that while they were preparing for a press briefing in front of the Gono Odhikar Parishad office around 9:30 pm, protesting the attack by the Jatiya Party, both police and army personnel launched an assault on them. More than 50 leaders and activists, including Nur, were injured.
Nur sustained injuries to his head, nose, and eyes. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
On Saturday morning, hospital director Brig Gen Asaduzzaman said Nur had regained consciousness.
He added that a high-level medical board had been formed for Nur's treatment. His condition had improved, but it could not yet be said whether he was out of danger before 48 hours had passed.
Meanwhile, in a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) after the incident, it was stated that at the beginning of the unrest, law enforcement members repeatedly urged both parties to remain calm.
However, some activists ignored the requests and attempted to escalate the situation into mob violence. They attacked law enforcement personnel, and around 9:00 pm, they intensified the violence with a torch procession, throwing bricks and attempting to set fire to various establishments.
According to ISPR, five army personnel were injured in the clash.
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