People around the nation have not sat idle, but continue to protest against the attacks carried out during the countrywide blockade and hartal.
In Chittagong, to object to the nationwide arson attacks on transport workers and the public, and demand better safety on roadways, transport workers blew their vehicle horns for a full minute yesterday.
Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation and Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Union jointly organised this protest, said Inter-District Bus Owners’ Association President Kafil Uddin Ahmed to the Dhaka Tribune Chittagong correspondent.
“The workers arranged the unique programme to protest the attacks, in which transport workers and the public have been injured and are in pain at hospital burn units,” said Kafil. He insisted the government take ample safety measures to bring normalcy back on the highways.
Vehicle drivers blew horns from 1 pm to 1:01 pm at bus and truck terminals and bus stands in the city, and CNG-run auto rickshaws and other vehicles too blew horns to express their solidarity.
On the morning of the last day of BNP’s hartal, police recovered two abandoned live crude bombs from the parking space of the Bangladesh Biman office at Sholoshohar Gate No 2.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohiuddin Mahmud of Panchlaish police station said Biman staff spotted the two bombs at around 10:30 am, and upon being informed, the police recovered the bombs.
Meanwhile, miscreants blasted two crude bombs at the Chittagong Education Board office grounds in Muradpur.
Chittagong Education Board Secretary Pijush Datta said the education board office was the target, and bombs went off at around 1pm, creating panic among the staff. However, no causality was reported in this attack, he added.
Police arrested 25 people from different Chittagong upazilas for their alleged connection to subversive activities, said police sources.
Apart from that, no untoward attacks took place in the city and elsewhere in the district till filing this report.
Meanwhile, the people organised demonstrations and human chains in several places, urging political parties to take measures to stop the political violence.
In Gazipur, students and teachers of Rahmat Ali College and Sripur Pilot Girls’ High School formed a human chain in front of the Gazipur district council at 12pm.
Accounting department lecturer Bhojon Chandra Pal, Chemistry Professor Mahfijur Rahman Dulala, Botany Professor Faras Uzzan Choudhury of Rahmat Ali College, among others, addressed the rally.
In Natore, two separate human chains were held in Hafrasta and Kanaikhali to demand a safe environment for upcoming SSC examinees.
Speakers at the human chains called upon the government and the BNP to come to a consensus to end the ongoing political violence.
They said the government, as well as the agitating political parties, should play a responsible role in stopping the anarchy.
In Mirsarai, SSC examinees held a human chain urging the political party to end the violence.
Korerhat KM High School, Jaypur Purbojowar High School, and Korerehat Goniatul Ulum Hosainia Madrassa students also took part.
In Jaypurhat, people from 25 professional bodies held a rally in front of the district’s central mosque and called for an end to the attacks.
Meanwhile, the Barisal unit of Gonojagoron Mancha marked its second anniversary with a “Jagoron Jatra” in the city to protest the violence.
Human rights activist Nigar Sultana Hanufa, Chhatra Union district secretary Sharmin Jahan Popy, and Bangabondhu Shikkha O Gabeshona Parishad divisional secretary Bahauddin Golap, among others, addressed the rally.
Bangladesh was liberated to make its people happy and prosperous, not to create a state of bombs, arson attacks, political violence, strikes, blockades and terrorism, the speakers said.
They also demanded public examinations be made free of political programmes and violence, to ensure the next generation have a better future. They also called to unify all pro-liberation forces to make the country secular, non-communal, and democratic, and free it from political violence.
Gonojagaron Moncha activists, in describing the history of its foundation in 2013, said the platform was formed by thousands of protestors at Shahbagh who wanted all war criminals to be tried.
