The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Mirza Abbas and joint secretary Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal were among hundreds arrested in the capital on Tuesday as police continued  their crackdown against opposition parties.

The crackdown led many other opposition leaders to move into hiding to avoid arrests and police harassment.

The Detective Branch of police detained the two senior BNP leaders at the Shahidbagh mosque alley in Shahjahanpur in the capital, Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson and deputy commissioner Faruk Hossain said.

Police immediately did not confirm in which cases they had been arrested.

Abbas and Alal were named as accused in fresh cases filed over police murder and an attack on the chief justice’s residence on October 28.

Information from BNP, in different districts showed that some 500 opposition leaders and activists were arrested between Monday night and Tuesday amid the police crackdown.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police data showed that 158 leaders and activists of the BNP were arrested in the capital in 24 hours until morning on Tuesday, while three more cases were filed over Saturday’s clashes between the police and BNP activists during the period.

A total of 1,884 leaders and activists of the BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested in the capital between October 21 and October 29, and 40 cases were filed over the recent violence, police said.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Tuesday that police had raided their leaders’ and activists’ houses.

He said that opposition leaders and activists cannot stay at their houses due to raids.

Rizvi said that over 4,000 leaders and activists of the party were arrested in the past six days in connection with the October 28 grand rally, and 71 fresh fabricated cases were filed in the meantime.

Meanwhile, police removed crime scene tape from the front of the BNP office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka on Tuesday morning. The BNP office has been under lock since the clashes.