During drives in various parts of Panchagarh, police detained 19 persons, among them a BNP leader, on suspicion of spreading false information about Ahmadiyyas.
Among those detained was Fazle Rabbi, 30, a joint convener of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Panchagarh municipality unit, a leader of the municipality's Juba Dal unit, and the son of Solaiman Ali of the Rajnagar region.
On Saturday night, after receiving information, a squad of police officers conducted drives around the district town and made the arrests, according to Abdul Latif Mia, officer-in-charge of Panchagarh police station.
Additionally, he claimed that Fazle Rabbi and other young people riding motorbikes around the district town disseminated rumors that members of the Ahmadiyya sect had murdered two Muslims by slitting their throats.
They also shared the rumors on Facebook.
Following the rumors, some young people with sticks and other pointed objects stopped roads, committed arson assaults, robbed a shoe store, and then vandalized three further stores before looting those as well.
Two people were killed and at least 50 others, including police officers, were hurt earlier on Friday when a group of Muslim devotees and the police clashed over the cancellation of Salna Jalsa, a three-day religious gathering of Ahmediyya community in the Panchagarh district town.
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