Dhaka, Mar 6 – Jatiyatabadi Swechhasebok Dal held a rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on Saturday amid obstructions by police. They held the rally demanding investigations into the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in prison and the death of journalist Borhan Uddin Mozakki in a clash between two groups of the ruling party in Bashirhat, Noakhali.
The turnout at the rally was limited to a few hundreds as many leaders and activists could not enter the rally because of police barricades in various places, including Matsyabhaban and Topkhana Road junctions, from 8:30 am.
Two leaders of the party got into a scuffle and one was seen bleeding from the mouth during the rally. Later, police and BNP leaders brought the situation under control.
Addressing the rally BNP, leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy warned that party activists will take alternative ways of protests if the government stops them from staging systematic protests on the streets.
“There’re many avenues of struggle. Everyone has to think about what will happen to the country if activists take that alternative path.”
“The unarmed people of this country defeated the Pakistani army and sent them back to their homeland. They cannot be turned away from the truth by intimidating them with weapons,” he added.
BNP joint secretary general Moazzam Hossain Alal, Swechhasebok Dal acting president Mostafizur Rahman and its general secretary Abdul Kader Bhuiya, among others, joined the rally.
On February 28, over 50 people, including cops, were injured in a series of clashes between the activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and police in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka as police reportedly obstructed them from holding a rally in protest against the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed and demanding abolition of the Digital Security Act. – UNB
