Dhaka: A fierce clash broke out between police and BNP leaders and activists in front of the party's Nayapaltan Central office here on Wednesday, disrupting traffic in the areas.

Witness said BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas along with his several hundred supporters marched towards their party office around 12:30pm and started staging a showdown there, halting traffic on the road, reports the UNB.

Police tried to remove the BNP men from a portion of the road so that vehicles can pass through, but failed to do so.

At one stage, they locked into an altercation with the BNP leaders and activists and started charging batons to maintain the law and order.

BNP leaders and activists also started hurling brickbats at the cops, triggering a fierce clash between the two sides.

A chase-and-counter-chase was going on there till filing of the report around 1:25pm. Police also lobbed teargas to disperse the BNP activists.

The unruly BNP men then torched more than one police vehicles and vandalised some others in the Nayapaltan area.

BNP assistant office secretary Taipul Islam Tipu told UNB that the clash broke out around 12:55 pm as the police were trying to obstruct their leaders and activists from gathering in front of their office.

Traffic in the areas came to a complete halt following the clash.

Like the past two days, thousands of BNP leaders and activists gathered in front of their office in the morning while many others started joining them in small processions until the clash began as the party continued the sale of its nomination forms for the third consecutive days today among those who want to contest the 11th parliamentary elections with its tickets.

Carrying posters, banners, festoons, placards and portraits of party chairperson Khaleda Zia, acting chairman Tarique Rahman and nomination aspirants, the party activists were celebrating the nomination sale.

On Monday morning, the party formally started the sale of nomination with the purchase of three nomination papers for its jailed chairperson Khaleda Zia. BNP sold 1,326 nomination papers on the first day while 1,896 ones on the second day.

The sale of nomination papers are supposed to continue until November 16.