Tensions rise outside Shahbagh police station over playing of 7 March speech

Tensions flared in front of Shahbagh Police Station in the capital after leaders of DUCSU and Chhatra Shakti intervened in a programme to play Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic 7 March speech over a sound box, organised in protest of the detention of a banned Chhatra League leader.

According to prior announcement, several former students of the University of Dhaka began playing the speech on a sound box placed on a rickshaw in front of Shahbagh Police Station at around 9:30 pm on Saturday.

Leaders of DUCSU and Jatiya Chhatra Shakti also took a counter-position at the site in protest of the programme, creating tensions between the two sides. At one stage, a leader of the banned organisation Chhatra League who was present at the programme was assaulted.

The incident took place in front of Shahbagh Police Station on Saturday night. The programme to play the speech was led by Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Imi, a former student of Dhaka University, with several university students taking part.

Earlier in the afternoon, the historic 7 March speech of Bangabandhu was played through a sound box at Chankharpul intersection in the capital. Police detained two individuals, including Asif Ahmed, from there and brought them to Shahbagh Police Station.

Police also seized the sound box used at the scene. Asif Ahmed is the (now banned) employment affairs secretary of the Chhatra League unit at Shaheedullah Hall of Dhaka University.

At around 9:30 pm, the speech of Bangabandhu was again played on a sound box placed on a rickshaw in front of the gate of the National Museum, opposite Shahbagh Police Station. Imi and several students were standing nearby. They said they would continue playing the speech until the detained student was released.

Upon learning of the programme, another group of students led by Tahmid Al Modassir, convener of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti — the student wing of the National Citizen Party (NCP) — took a counter-position in front of the police station.

Both sides began chanting slogans against each other, escalating tensions. Shortly afterward, DUCSU leaders A.B. Jubayer and Mosaddeq Ali Ibne Mohammad arrived at the scene. Slogan exchanges continued for some time.

At one stage, under their leadership, Imi and the rickshaw carrying the sound box were taken inside Shahbagh Police Station. Witnesses alleged that during the resulting tension inside the station, Abdullah Al Mamun, joint secretary of the banned Chhatra League’s Shaheed Sergeant Zahurul Haq Hall unit at Dhaka University, was assaulted.

Speaking on the matter, DUCSU leader A.B. Jubayer said, “The 7 March speech is being used as a shield, and the name of the Liberation War is being used to attempt to rehabilitate the Awami League. The boy who was detained is a known Awami League terrorist. He carried out attacks during the July movement.”

Attempts to reach Shahbagh Police Station’s officer-in-charge (OC) Md Moniruzzaman for comment were unsuccessful as he did not answer phone calls.