In protest, the two left-leaning parties called a six-hour hartal (shutdown) in the northeastern city form 6:00am.
Selim, who got his right hand fractured, was admitted to a private clinic, Bedananda Bhattacharya, president of Sylhet district unit of CPB, told The Daily Star.
The activists of BCL, student wing of the ruling Awami League, also clashed with the law enforcers as the latter stepped in to bring the situation under control, reports our Sylhet correspondent.
Around 250 people participated in the divisional meeting of the two left-leaning parties at Court Point area in the city, which began 3:30pm.
Almost one hour into the meeting, around 150 BCL men marched towards the venue with a procession, sending panic among the participants.
“As we were preparing to go on a prayer break, the BCL men started pelting brickbats at us and swooped on the participants,” Bhattacharya said.
The attackers started throwing away the chairs and vandalising the podium.
The attack left 25 of the two parties, including CPB president Selim, CPB’s Sylhet unit secretary Anwar Hossain Suman and Bangladesh Chhatra Union district unit secretary Shahiduzzaman Paplu, injured.
Members of Rab and police, who were posted 30-40 yards away near Hasan Market, remained unmoved as the attack continued for about 20 minutes, reported our correspondent.
After the panicky participants of the CPB-BSD meeting dispersed, the BCL men regrouped and brought out another meeting.
Rab and police members swung into action, triggering a clash that continued for around 15 minutes.
The law enforcers fired rubber bullets to bring the situation under control.
Talking to The Daily Star, SM Rokon Uddin, additional commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said at least 10 policemen were injured this time.
M Akhter Hossain, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, received injuries in his head.
After 5:30pm, when the situation came under control, the CPB-BSD men resumed the meeting and finished it in 20 minutes.
Source: The Daily Star