BAKSHIGANJ, Bangladesh — A signboard declaring a banned Awami League office a public toilet has disappeared from the Bogarchar union of Bakshiganj upazila in Jamalpur, residents said.
The signboard, put up by activists of the Bakshiganj upazila unit of the Gonoadhikar Parishad, has been removed. No one has been able to identify who took it down.
The dispute began on Feb. 21, when a group of local Awami League activists raised the national flag and the party flag at the banned Awami League office in Bogarchar union to mark International Mother Language Day. The activists chanted the “Joi Bangla” slogan as they hoisted the party flag.
Bogarchar union Awami League organizing secretary Sajjad Kadir Saju, union Awami League member Rezaul Karim, ward Awami League president Aiyub Ali, joint secretary of the Tanti League Rezaul Karim and Bogarchar union Chhatra League president Niyamat Ullah were among local activists who attended the flag-hoisting and prayer ceremony for the language martyrs.
Video of the event went viral on social media.
In response, Bakshiganj upazila Gonoadhikar Parishad president Shahriar Sumon declared the Awami League office a public toilet. On Saturday afternoon, the upazila unit of the Gonoadhikar Parishad held a protest in front of the Awami League office in Bogarchar. Demonstrators removed the Awami League’s party and national flags and set fire to material in front of the office.
The protesters also removed the Awami League signboard, declared the office a public toilet and hung up a signboard saying so.
On Sunday morning, Feb. 22, a visit to the site found no trace of the public toilet signboard at the dilapidated, abandoned Bogarchar union Awami League office.
A local resident, who asked not to be named, said unidentified people had taken down the signboard within hours of the Gonoadhikar Parishad activists hanging it up.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report