Police have arrested more than 12,700 people across the country over the past eight days.

At least 726 more people were arrested in the capital and elsewhere in the 36 hours till 6:00pm yesterday as the nationwide crackdown against protesters and opposition parties continues.

At least 738 more people were arrested in the capital and several other districts in 36 hours till 6:00pm yesterday in connection with the recent violence across the country.

Prisons across the country are crammed with a record number of inmates, in some places three to seven times their capacity, as a result of the crackdown on illegal drugs and a “mass arrest” of BNP men over the last few months.

Around noon yesterday, prison vans entering the court premises rang alive with party slogans being shouted by those inside.

The weeklong special drive against militants ended yesterday with 17 suspected militants being arrested in the last 24 hours of the countrywide crackdown.

Incidents of police arresting people facing no criminal charges run counter to a Supreme Court verdict against the police's century-old discretionary powers of arrest on suspicion.

Muhammad Jahidul Islam is an activist of Bangladesh Chhatra League. His entire family strongly supports the Awami League. Yet, in the case filed against Jahid, Sub-Inspector Anwarul Islam of Khoksa Police Station mentioned that the accused was held on suspicion that he and some others had met to plan subversive activities to topple the government.