Allegations have been raised that threatening slogans were directed at on-duty police members from a protest march by the banned Jubo League in Gazipur city. The police members present at the scene took no visible action at the time, raising questions about their role. The matter has sparked widespread discussion after a video of the march spread on social media.
Around 6 a.m. on Sunday, leaders and activists of the Jubo League brought out a protest march from the Columbia area under Basan police station in Gazipur city. The march proceeded along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway and ended in the Maleker Bari area. According to eyewitnesses, two police members from Gacha police station were on duty on the highway during the march. At one point, as they tried to move towards the march, a man in the march was heard saying repeatedly: ‘Don’t a single one of you come forward — I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you.’
At the same time, the march also raised slogans such as ‘Sheikh Hasina, in a hero’s guise, will return to Bangladesh,’ ‘Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu,’ and ‘Action, action, direct action, Jubo League action.’ Local sources said the march had been organised to mark the founding anniversary of the Awami League and to demand the withdrawal of the ban imposed on the party. However, the threatening remarks directed at law-enforcement members during the march, and the holding of a programme openly under the banner of a banned organisation, have raised various questions among the public.
After the video of the incident spread on social media, criticism also arose over the conduct of the law-enforcement agencies. Many asked why no immediate action had been taken even though such slogans and a programme were being carried out openly.
On this, Harun-or-Rashid, officer-in-charge (OC) of Basan police station of the Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP), said the identity of the person who made the threatening remarks in the video could not be immediately determined. The matter had come to police attention, he said, and the video footage and other information were being examined; the process of identifying those concerned and taking necessary legal action was under way.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report