Police bar Islami Andolan rally bound for Myanmar Embassy

Police have barred a rally of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh protesting the persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar, on grounds that it blocked traffic on some roads in Dhaka.

The Islamist political organisation took out the rally around 11am on Wednesday from the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque located at the heart of the capital city.

The rally was proceeding to the Myanmar Embassy in Baridhara to lay siege to it but changed its course and returned to the starting point in face of resistance from police at Shantinagar. 

Police put up barricades at the Shantinagar intersection to stop thousands of activists, said Shahbagh Police Inspector Abul Bashar.

The leaders and activists waited there for some time and then headed back to Baitul Mukarram, he said.

“We did not allow this massive crowd to keep walking on such a long route.”

“We allowed five of them to go with the memorandum to the embassy,” said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner HM Azimul Haque.

On Friday, Nayeb-e-Ameer of the party, Mufti Sayed Faizul Karim, said his party would lay siege to the embassy protesting the brutal army crackdown that Myanmar government has started on the Rohingyas.

Traffic on the connecting roads came to a standstill as activists of the party started gathering at the entrance of the national mosque around 9am.

Chairman of the party Rezaul Karim and other senior leaders addressed the gathering.

Traffic in Shantinagar returned to normal around 12:30pm after the protesters cleared the area.