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‘Today Shahbagh, tomorrow Jamuna’: Osman Hadi's Inqilab Moncho plans mega blockades across Bangladesh, issues warning
The blockades were slated to begin at 11:00am local time, the organisation said in a Facebook post, according to Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star.
Inqilab Moncho has reportedly announced all-out blockades in all divisional cities across Bangladesh from today, as protests demanding justice for slain party leader Sharif Osman Hadi intensified and spread beyond Dhaka.
The blockades will begin at 11:00am local time on Sunday, the organisation said in a Facebook post, according to Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star. The announcement was also made from the Shahbagh intersection in the capital, where Inqilab Moncho had continued a sit-in since Friday, Prothom Alo reported.
On Saturday, activists, mainly from Inqilab Moncho, blocked roads and staged sit-ins in Dhaka, Sylhet, Chattogram and Kushtia, demanding justice for Hadi, local media reports said.
In Dhaka, protesters who had occupied Shahbagh after Jummah prayers on Friday afternoon and stayed overnight briefly moved to the front of Aziz Supermarket around noon to allow BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman to visit Hadi’s grave in the Dhaka University area, The Daily Star report said. The demonstrators returned to Shahbagh around 12:40pm, bringing vehicular movement to a complete halt.
Warning of escalation
Addressing the gathering at Shahbagh, Inqilab Moncho Member Secretary Abdullah Al Jaber warned of intensifying the agitation if the government failed to act.
“Today we are in Shahbagh; tomorrow we may occupy Jamuna [the chief adviser’s residence], the parliament or even the cantonment,” The Daily Star quoted him as saying.
Jaber criticised what he described as government inaction, saying no adviser had visited the protest site despite the sit-in continuing since Friday. “People were shivering on the streets while the advisers were sleeping at home,” he said, adding that public confidence in the government was eroding.
“If you think you can control the country from inside the secretariat or the cantonment, you are wrong,” he said. Claiming the platform’s strength, he added, “On December 12, the day of Hadi’s namaz-e-janaza, if we wanted, we could have toppled the government. Your Jamuna or cantonment couldn’t have saved you,” The Daily Star reported.
Meanwhile, women and children too joined the protest on Saturday morning, along with people from various cultural and professional backgrounds. Poems were recited, verses from the Holy Quran were read, and slogans demanding justice were raised at the site, the report added.
Sharif Osman Hadi's killing
According to another popular daily Prothom Alo, Sharif Osman Hadi, regarded as the face of the July mass uprising, formed Inqilab Mancha in August last year. He was also a potential candidate for the Dhaka-8 constituency in the upcoming parliamentary election.
On December 12, shortly after Friday prayers, Hadi was shot while riding a rickshaw on Culvert Road in Old Paltan in Dhaka. He later died while undergoing treatment in Singapore. He was buried beside the grave of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam near the Central Mosque of Dhaka University.
Earlier, Prothom Alo reported that Inqilab Moncho had declared it would not leave the streets until those involved in the killing of “martyred Sharif Osman bin Hadi” are arrested. The platform has also warned that if the situation worsens, it may lay siege to the cantonment or Jamuna, the residence of the chief adviser to the interim government.
Bangladesh unrest
Hadi’s death triggered widespread protests and unrest in Bangladesh, during which vandalism was reported and fires were set at the Dhaka offices of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, according to local media reports.
Meanwhile, protests and marches were also reported in parts of India, including Kolkata in West Bengal, over the alleged killing of Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu worker in a garment factory. He was reportedly beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges on December 18, after which his body was hanged and set on fire.
In a separate incident, another Hindu youth, Amrit Mondal, was lynched in Hosendanga village of Kalimohor union in Rajbari’s Pangsha sub-district over an alleged extortion case. Local media reported that several cases, including one of murder, had been registered in his name.
