People beaten up, harassed at Dhanmondi-32

On the 49th death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, students and people took control of Dhanmondi Road-32 and obstructed those who they believed wanted to pay tribute to the leader.
Hundreds of students and members of the public were at the area. They stopped pedestrians, questioned them, checked their identification documents and phones, and prevented people from taking photos of what they were doing. Several people were beaten up, tied up, and handed over to law enforcers.
The Daily Star reporters and photographers on the spot observed at least 25 people being beaten up by people wielding sticks and rods. Some of them were tied up and dragged around before being handed over to law enforcers.
The media were also being obstructed from doing their duty. Several journalists, including those of this newspaper, were harassed and made to delete photos they took. A man announced on a loudspeaker, “Do not take photos and videos. Those inside buildings looking down, do not take out your phones.”
Kader Siddique Bir Uttam, the president of the Krishak Sramik Janata League, was attacked when he attempted to pay his respects.
Kader Siddique told The Daily Star, “I went to pay respect [to Bangabandhu] at 7 in the morning, but I couldn’t. It felt nice that a few people respectfully asked me to go back… I was inside the car. However, some people threw stones and vandalised the car. After that, I left. Today, I saw some people tied up with ropes [near the Dhanmondi 32 area], which is unacceptable.”
The officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, Emran Hossain, said that 16 people were handed over to policemen and some were injured and needed medical attention.
Sohel, 45, was beaten up by the people. He was left reeling with split knuckles and knees, and a swollen left arm he could not move. A rickshaw-puller rescued him.
“I am from Panchagarh. I came to Dhaka because my son just got admitted to Notre Dame College and I wanted to drop him off. I was on the back of a motorcycle with a brother of mine, and I was not going to Dhanmondi-32. I was just passing by,” he told this reporter.
Police and army personnel were present there but did not intervene.
Md Azim, a student, said they were holding the ground to prevent the Awami League from using this as an opportunity to organise. “We have been here since morning. If anyone tries to take away the freedom we earned with our blood, we will resist.”
The students’ platform against discrimination had announced “resistance week” centring the day.
ICT Adviser of the interim government Nahid Islam in a Facebook post yesterday evening condemned the act of checking phones and swooping on unarmed innocent people.
“Our revolution is based on justice and principles. The aim of our student-citizen revolution was to abolish the fascist system, establish security of life and justice in society. We have to continue the resistance, on the other hand we have to uphold our spirit of the rebellion,” read his post.
One of the central leaders of the students’ platform, Hasnat Abdullah, on his social media page said, “Bangladesh Chhatra League members used to stop us and check our phones to find evidence of resistance. Today we heard that students, claiming to be from the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, had been checking phones and violating the privacy of the people. We protest against this and warn them about repeating this in the future.
“We have also heard that the media have been obstructed from taking photos and filming. We believe in the independence of the press. We criticise those who had harassed journalists.”
In past years, Awami League leaders and workers of every level thronged Dhanmondi-32, often with camerapersons in tow, to lay wreaths at the mural in front of the Bangabandhu museum. This visit of homage was mandatory to prove allegiance to the party.
The museum was torched after the fall of the Hasina-led government on August 5.
The interim government on August 13 withdrew the public holiday.
The national flag was at full-mast at Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday, unlike previous years when it was at half-mast.
Even though there were no government programmes to mark the day, there were small events organised by some organisations. 
The Communist Party of Bangladesh held a discussion marking the National Day of Mourning at its party office in Paltan.
CPB President Shah Alam presided over the meeting while General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince and economist MM Akash took part in the discussion.
Udichi Shilpigoshthi too organised a discussion at their central office to mark the day.