Police lobbed truncheons to foil the attempts of Ganajagaran Mancha and Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command to hold their protest rallies at Shahbagh intersection on Friday afternoon. They also detained seven leaders and activists of the two organisations as they tried to hold their programmes with permission. Activists of Ganajagaran Mancha and Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command had a scuffle at Shahbagh on Thursday night. Blaming each other for the incident, the two organisations announced to hold protest rallies at the same place on Friday. However, police gave none of the two groups for holding their programmes. When the Muktijoddha Sangsad Santan Command activists tried to gather at the Shahbagh Square for their rally at about 3:30pm, police dispersed them charging baton on them. Later, the Ganajagaran Mancha activists also tried to gather at the spot at about 5pm. However, police foiled their bid in the same way. Contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Ramna Division) Maruf Sheikh said police did not give permission to hold the rallies to avert any unpleasant incident as the groups announced to hold the protest programmes at the same venue at same time. Sub-inspector Krishna Chandra Das of Shahbagh Police Station said they detained seven from the spot. – UNB
