Seven countries including the United States and the United Kingdom on Monday said that they were deeply concerned by the violence during political gatherings in Dhaka on October 28.

The expressed their concern in a joint statement posted on X, formerly twitter, of the US embassy in Dhaka.

‘The governments of Australia, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States are deeply concerned by the violence during political gatherings in Dhaka on 28 October,’ the joint statement signed by the embassies and high commissions of the countries read.

The statement called on all stakeholders to exercise ‘restraint, eschew violence and work together’ to create the conditions for free, fair, participatory, and peaceful elections.

The countries extended their condolences for the loss of life and to those injured.

The statement came hours before the scheduled briefing of the government for the foreign diplomats on the current situation in the country.

The government will brief diplomats stationed in Dhaka, representatives of UN agencies and international organizations on the current situation in Bangladesh this afternoon.

Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will brief the diplomats at state guesthouse Jamuna at 4:00pm.

The government is going to organise the briefing in the backdrop of October 28 violence between the leaders and activists of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and members of the police and ruling Awami League centring the opposition’s grand rally in Dhaka.

The violence left two – a policeman and a Juba Dal activist – dead and over 1,000 injured. BNP called countywide hartal for the following day (October 29, 2023) protesting against attack on their grand rally.

On the following day, police arrested BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a case of vandalising chief Justice’s official residence. Hundreds of BNP leaders and activists were arrested across the country since October 28.

BNP and their likeminded political parties and alliances are now on movement demanding resignation of the government, dissolving the parliament and holding the next general election, expected to be held in late December this year or in January 2024, under a neutral government.