Protesters vow 7hr demo daily at Shahbagh

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 15 Feb 2013, 06:38 AM
Updated : 15 Feb 2013, 11:10 AM

The protesters at Shahbagh have climbed down from their continuous demonstrations and announced seven-hour protest rallies every day at the ‘Prajanma Chattar’ from now on to press their demand for capital punishment for all ‘war criminals’.

The announcement came on Friday at the ‘Jagaran Samabesh’, or the Uprising Rally, after round-the-clock demonstrations for 11 days since Feb 5, when the International Crimes Tribunal-2 awarded life in prison to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdur Quader Molla.

Announcing the new demonstration plans, Imran H Sarker of Blogger and Online Activist Network, which initiated the agitation, said their movement would go on until their demands were met.

He said the national flag would be flown and the national anthem sung in all educational institutions across Bangladesh at 10am on Sunday.

From now on, according to the latest announcement, protests at the Prajanma Chattar will take place from 3pm to 10pm daily.

The protesters urged everyone to be ready to launch round-the-clock agitation at Shahbagh again, if need be, at a short notice.

Imran said: “Human fortresses will be set up at every place where Jamaat and Shibir activists will do subversive and atrocious acts. Everyone has to keep an eye out for that.”

He said the demonstration programme has been rescheduled to “make the movement more matured, extensive, organised and deeper.”

The protesters urged everyone to take the spirit of the Prajanma Chattar to the farthest corners of the country.

The Friday’s Uprising Rally kicked off at 4pm with the singing of the national anthem. Blogger Anjan Roy and Sammilita Sangskritik Jote Convenor Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchhu moderated the programme.

Jahangirnagar University Vice Chancellor Prof M Anwar Hossain and Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) President Prof Abul Barkat were present on the stage, assembled on two trucks at the centre of the gathering.

People from all walks of life started to gather at the rally venue since morning. The place turned into a human sea with the clock ticking and the gathering poured into TSC and Ruposhi Bangla Hotel areas.

Bangladesh Chhatra Andolon Organising Secretary Nazrul Shikder, Bangladesh Biplobi Chhatra Songhoti General Secretary Rashedul Hasan Rashed, Bangladesh Chhatra Samiti Convener Zahidur Rahman Khan, Bangladesh Biplobi Chhatra Moitri President Salman Rahman, Biplobi Chhatra Moitri President Abdur Rouf, Chhatra Oikya Forum Convener Sohan Sobhan, Bangladesh Chhatra Federation President Probir Saha, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front President Saifuzzman Sakan, Bangladesh Chhatra League General Secretary Siddiqui Nazmul Alam, Bangladesh Chhatra Union President SM Shuvo and JaSaD Chhatra League President Hussain Ahmed Tafsir, among others, addressed the rally.

They urged all to wage a mass resistance against Jamaat and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Nazmul said: “Victory is being won today through this movement. This victory is of the state, this victory is of the people, this victory is of Shahbagh.”

Shuvo said: “The Razakar-making factory has to be shut by banning Jamaat and Shibir.”

Before announcing the new demonstration programme, Imran, in his speech, termed Jamaat a force against Bangali nation’s struggle for establishing its rights.

He said: “Jamaat activists cannot be spared. Today we demand their trials trough peaceful movement… We won’t go back home until the full and just trial of the crimes against humanity are completed.”

The blogger sought support from the young generation in their efforts to make the messages of the Liberation War reach every house.

Calling for a ban on the politics of Jamaat and Shibir, he said: “This (Shahbagh) movement has gone beyond borders and spread to international arena… There is no way to retreat from the movement.”
On Thursday evening, millions of people across Bangladesh observed a candlelight vigil in an extraordinary show of solidarity for the Shahbagh movement.
The announcement for the Friday rally came after the Thursday programme.
The protests started at Shahbagh intersection Feb 5 within hours of the International Crimes Tribunal-2 pronouncing the life-term verdict for Jamaat leader Molla. The protesters termed the punishment ‘lenient’ given his crimes committed during the War of Independence in 1971.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people from all strata of the society have expressed solidarity with the young men and women at Shahbagh by joining the movement as it spread all over the country in demand of death to all war criminals.