New Delhi: A Dhaka court sent Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, one of Bangladesh’s key opposition leaders, to jail on Sunday night (October 29).Alamgir, the secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was picked up by police on Sunday morning and sent to jail at around 10 pm Bangladesh time, the local newspaper Daily Star reported.Police told the Daily Star that Alamgir was arrested in a case relating to the home of the country’s chief justice being attacked on Saturday.Tens of thousands of protestors – with some estimating their strength at over 100,000 or even around 200,000 – gathered in Dhaka on Saturday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before the general elections in January 2024.They also called for free and fair elections under a caretaker government.But the protests turned violent, leading to two people dying and more than 100 suffering injuries, according to media reports.Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protestors, and they reportedly said that one of the two casualties from Saturday was an officer who was hacked to death.“At least 164 [BNP members] including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir were accused of murdering the police officer,” DW quoted police official Salahuddin Mia as saying late on Sunday.Alamgir has led the party since the arrest and imprisonment of former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia after she was convicted in corruption cases in 2018.His bail plea was rejected on Sunday night, as per the Associated Press.Police and the country’s opposition have blamed each other for the violence.The BNP has held large protests in recent months in Bangladesh. Representative image. Photo: Jubair Bin Iqbal/CC-BY-SA-4.0.The BNP carried out a day-long strike on Sunday.Many markets remained closed in Dhaka and public transport in the city was scant, news agency AFP reported.At the same time, AP cited local media as reporting that two people died in Dhaka on Sunday and police arrested at least 540 opposition supporters in the city.Members of the ruling Awami League party and its allies will hold a rally in Dhaka today (Monday) to denounce Saturday’s violence, AP’s report continued to say, adding that the BNP has called for a three-day countrywide road blockade starting on Tuesday.The Awami League and its leader Sheikh Hasina have maintained that the country’s next general election must be overseen by the current government as per the provisions of the constitution.Hasina has presided over the consolidation of the Awami League’s power in Bangladesh since 2009, facing allegations that she has suppressed opposition and critical voices in the country. She has been accused of human rights violations, cracking down on free speech and suppressing dissent while jailing her critics – including Zia.Her party was accused of rigging the last two elections in 2014 and 2018.With inputs from DW.