Protest continues in Dhaka

Dhaka: Violence gripped the Bangladesh capital as Jamaat-e-Islami activists attacked and torched vehicles, injuring several people, police officials said.

Jamaat activists violently took to the street to oppose the Shabagh protestors while their stalwarts are being tried for war crime charges in two special tribunals.

The sit-in protest entered 10th day on Wednesday.

Some city streets emptied as JI activists exploded home-made bombs and vandalised several buses and vehicles at the Motijheel business district and adjacent areas.

“They torched and damaged the buses and private cars injuring many, using the hit-and-run strategy to evade police actions,” a photo journalist who witnessed the violence told Gulf News.

He said JI had organised a street march in the Motijheel area to protest against the Shahbagh demonstration by youngsters as a “‘government-sponsored rally” and they became violent as police intervened. Several officers were injured.

A police spokesman said police officers were forced to use rubber bullets and tear gas canisters while they also detained nearly 100 suspected rioters from the scene and called out extra police and the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion to prevent further violence.

Witnesses said police and RAB officers in riot cars did little to affect the vigil at Shahbagh Square, where young people chanted slogans and sang in chorus beating drums, two kilometres away from the troubled Motijheel.

The rioting JI activists took to the street for the second consecutive day since the demonstration began 10 days ago, demanding capital punishment for the top JI leaders for atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War siding with Pakistani troops.

Much of Bangladesh fell silent as millions of people stood in silence for three minutes from 4pm in a mark of solidarity with the youths and their demonstration.

JI earlier announced it would stage a nationwide peaceful protest on Wednesday against the exposure of their top leaders to trial in two special tribunals for 1971 crimes against humanity as part of the ruling Awami League’s “political vendetta”.