Dhaka is abuzz with anti-rape protests all day



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Dhaka: The capital, Dhaka, was abuzz with protests against rape from morning until night. Massive demonstrations, human chains and torchlight processions have been organized in different parts of the city to demand punishment for those who commit rapes and acts of violence against women.

A black flag procession also took to the streets to the Prime Minister’s Office. So the police stopped and charged the protesters with sticks.

Demonstrations throughout the capital have demanded that all rapists receive the maximum punishment and that the verdict be carried out. There are even demands for the resignation of the Interior Minister.

On Tuesday (October 8), for the second day in a row, protesters gathered at various locations in the capital, including Shahbagh Junction, Central Shaheed Minar, Kakrail Junction, National Press Club, South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad, Uttara.

Progressive student organizations, including student unions and the Samatantrik Chhatra Front, demonstrated at the Shahbagh intersection under the slogan “Bangladesh Against Rape”. Poets, writers, bloggers and online activists stand in solidarity with them.

Joining the program, the poet Saikat Amin said that the current Interior Minister has failed to resist the rape. We do not want a failed interior minister in such a failed ministry in the country. “There is no country where rape does not occur,” he said. If he had been embarrassed, he would have left the ministry with a runny nose.

Liton Nandi, a former general secretary of the Bangladesh Students’ Union, said leaders and activists from the student and youth wing of the ruling party were involved in almost all the recent rapes. In such a situation, such comments from the interior minister that “rape happens everywhere” shows that he has completely failed. We don’t want to see this failed Interior Minister again.
Police obstruct the procession against rape Photo: DH Badal
Police obstruct procession against rape | Photo: DH Badal

A black flag procession was brought out from the Shahbagh crossing to the prime minister’s office at around 1:15 pm under the sign “Bangladesh Against Rape”. The intercontinental hotel in front of the police prevented the protesters from marching within reach. The protesters broke through the barricades, the police resorted to the charge of the baton to advance. So five people are known to have been injured.

Sadia Imroz Ila, a member of the Kalabagan Student Union, told banglanews that five people, including Sajjad Hossain Shuvo, organizing secretary of the Mohammadpur Thana Student Union, and Asmani Asha, the union’s education and research secretary Jagannath University Students were injured in the police baton charge. They have been admitted to the hospital.

A torchlight procession also left the Shahbagh crossing at night to protest the attack on protesters.

Human chains and demonstrations in front of the press club
The National Press Club facilities had been in an uproar since the morning in protest of the rape and demanding maximum punishment for the rapists. From morning to night, various organizations have organized human chains and demonstrations.

Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front burned the effigy of Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in front of the National Press Club, in protest against the oppression and rape of women, calling him “incompetent”.

Speakers at the rally said rapes, gang rapes and murders are taking place one after another across the country. The interior minister has failed to provide security for the people at this extremely difficult time. He was rejected by people with hatred.

Maleka Banu, General Secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said at a protest rally organized by the Social Resistance Committee in front of the National Press Club that Bangladesh is no better. The brutality and demonic insanity of rapists and torturers is also increasing. And the Bengal sky grows heavier with the clamor of rape, the torture of women, sisters and daughters.

In front of the National Press Club on Tuesday with the same lawsuit, Joyer Alo, Desh Bachao Manush Bachao, Bangladesh Center for Women Journalists, Sonaimuri Janakalyan Samiti, Bangladesh Association of Women Journalists held a human chain.

Roadblock in Uttara and Kakrail
Students have been protesting in Uttara for the second day demanding the arrest of the rapists. They blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway at the Uttara House Building junction on Tuesday afternoon. After pulling off the road an hour later, the students began chanting ‘We want justice’.

Students also protested at the Kakrail intersection in the capital demanding the same. On Tuesday afternoon, they blocked the road at the Kakrail intersection and began chanting anti-rape slogans.

Protest demonstration in front of South Parliament Square
A human chain and a protest rally took place in the south square of the parliament building on Tuesday at the initiative of the committee for the protection of women’s and children’s rights, Bahnishikha, of the environmental organization of students and youth Green Voice .

Writer and columnist Syed Abul Maqsood said the rapist has no father, mother, caste or religion; his only identity is the rapist. The only punishment for rape is death. Let’s build a mass movement against rapists regardless of their race, religion and caste. May our mothers and sisters move safely and may our children grow up safely.

Architect Iqbal Habib said: “Our mothers and sisters are not safe anywhere from the hills to the plains.” As the number of murders, robberies and kidnappings has increased, so has the number of rapes.

Bangladesh time: 2005 hours, October 08, 2020
DN / SJA / MMI



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