Sylhet Jamaat businesses burn

Angered by the vandalism at the Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar by the Islamists, thousands of students and people attacked and set fire to a number of institutions either owned by or linked to the radical Jamaat-e-Islami in Sylhet City on Friday afternoon.

Several thousand religious zealots, apparently backed by Jamaat under the banner of some Islamist parties, had earlier vandalised the Shaheed Minar from a procession after the Juma prayers protesting against what they claimed was ‘anti-Islam campaign in blogs’.

They burned the floral wreaths that the people had placed at the Shaheed Minar on Thursday in tributes to the 1952 Language Movement martyrs. The marauding Islamists also vandalised the copycat Shahbagh mass protest venue, the 'Ganajagaran Mancha' in Chauhatta.

Incensed at the attacks, the pro-independence students and people came out on the streets in their thousands and took out an anti-Jamaat procession.
They vandalised Jamaat-connected Al-Hamra Shopping City between Zindabazar and Chauhatta of the city around 3:30pm.

Later, they also attacked Retina Coaching Centre, Women’s Medical College Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital, local outlet of Islami Bank and Surma Tower.

The angry people also set ablaze two microbus in front of the Islami Bank office and Women’s Medical College, and five motorbikes in front of Surma Tower.

They also set fire to Al-Hamra Shopping City around 6pm. But the fire-fighters doused the flames soon.

Meanwhile, the demonstrators of the Sylhet Ganajagaran Mancha gathered at the Shaheed Minar in the evening in protest against the vandalism and torching of the wreaths.

Debashish Debu, convener of the Mancha, said: “Barring the perpetrators of crimes and collaborators of Pakistanis during the Liberation War, it’s not possible for anyone else to conduct such shocking act at the Shaheed Minar.”

He said that students from different educational institutions gathered at the Shaheed Minar and that their next course of action would be announced after a meeting.

Apart from police personnel, Border Guard Bangladesh personnel have been deployed in the important points of the city to avert further violence.

Police said thousands of bigots held a rally under the banners of different Islamist parties at the city’s Court Point after the Juma prayers and then marched towards the Shaheed Minar with a procession and attacked it.

As the police obstructed them, the activists locked into fierce clashes with them, leaving at least 30 injured, with 10 of them sustaining bullet injuries.

Doctors at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital said an unidentified man aged around 28 years died when he was taken there.

Police suspect that activists of Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir might have used the programmes announced by the 12 Islamist parties to fight back against the countrywide call to ban them and capital punishment for convicted war criminals.

Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Ejaz Ahmed told bdnews24.com they set fire to the local outlet of the army-owned Trust Bank and a police pick-up van. They also vandalised the Mujib-Jahan Blood Bank, BMA Building and the boundary wall of the Shaheed Minar.

Police used teargas shells and sound grenade and fired from shotguns to bring the situation under control.

Officer-In-Charge of the Sylhet Kotwali Police Station Ataur Rahman said that they arrested 56 people from the clash sites.