Key AL leaders’ homes, office attacked in Ctg

Miscreants today vandalised the houses of Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury Nowfel and Mayor Rezaul Karim, and the office of Awami League MP Md Mohiuddin Bachchu in Chattogram.
The attacks were allegedly carried out from a procession of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
However, sources at the houses of Nowfel and Bachchu said the attackers were not students.
The attacks came as the people gathered at the New Market intersection around 2:30pm to attend a rally called by the students demanding justice for those killed in the recent quota reform protests.
After the rally, the demonstrators marched towards Tiger Pass and Lalkhan Bazar with no police presence in the protest sites.
The residence of education minister in the Sholoshahar area came under attack around 6:30pm.
Witnesses said two cars were vandalised and another was set ablaze. The attackers also broke some furniture and window glasses of the house.
Dr Salim Akhter Chowdhury, former chief health officer of Chattogram City Corporation and brother-in-law of Nowfel, said several hundred people from a procession of the student movement carried out the attack.
However, Nowfel’s mother Hasina Mohiuddin said the attackers were not students.
Nowfel is the eldest son of late Awami League stalwart and former mayor of the port city ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. He had served as an organising secretary of the party.
Trisha Das, duty officer at Panchlaish Police Station, said they dispatched a team to the minister’s house immediately after being informed about the attack.
The attack on Mayor Rezaul’s house in the Bahaddarhat-Bahaddarbari area was carried out in a similar fashion around 7:30pm.
Chandgaon Police Station Sub-Inspector Salma Akter said a team of police rushed to the spot around 7:45pm.
Rezaul is a joint general secretary of the ruling party’s Chattogram Metropolitan Unit.
Chattogram-10 MP Bachchu’s office in Lalkhan Bazar also came under attack in the evening when the protest march reached the area.
The attackers vandalised the furniture of two rooms and later set those on fire, according to witnesses.
Sidraturl Rahi, a witness, said that around 10 people from the procession entered the office and carried out the vandalism and arson.
The attackers were not students, Rahi added.
Comments from the police or the protest leaders on the identity of the attackers were not available immediately.