Police in Bangladesh clashed with Inqilab Manch protesters on Friday, injuring at least 50 activists after they tried to defy a ban on demonstrations and demand immediate justice for the killing of their leader Sharif Osman Hadi last year.
The confrontation erupted when protesters tried to break through security barricades outside the residence of interim government chief Muhammad Yunus in Yamuna. Dhaka police responded with batons, sound grenades and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Witnesses said riot police cracked down as protesters tried to push past security barricades near the Yamuna after moving from a nearby sit-in, violating an earlier ban on demonstrations in the area.
Media reports said the police response left more than 50 protesters injured, including Inqilab Mancha member and secretary Abdullah Al Zaber.
In protest against the police action, activists of the cultural group blocked a nearby major intersection in the central area of the capital, Shahbagh, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the protesters were dispersed in a “completely lawful” manner and that no lethal weapons or gunfire were used.
After the clash, Yunus’ office collected reports of “excessive use of force” against the protesters.
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“According to information received from doctors at the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, 23 people, including Inqilab Mancha General Secretary Abdullah Al Zaber, were treated there. But doctors confirmed that none of them sustained bullet injuries,” the government statement said.
Inqilab Mancha’s attempt to break through the Yamuna barricades came despite Yunus’ office announcing earlier on Thursday that it would propose a UN investigation into Hadi’s murder.
Yunus’ press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, said the government would ask the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to take over the investigation to ensure full impartiality and justice.
In a statement after the clashes, Yunus’ office reiterated that the interim government was “deeply reviewing the legal aspects” of the UN investigation and would send a letter to the UN agency concerned on February 8.
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The government earlier observed a day of mourning for “martyr” Hadi, and legal adviser Asif Nazrul said the murder case would be referred to an expedited tribunal under the Speedy Trial Act, which stipulates that trials be completed within 90 days of a police report being submitted.
The Jamuna is secured by army personnel armed with weapons and supported by armored personnel carriers (APCs) along with police forces. In another measure to prevent any escalation of tensions, the government on Friday deployed six platoons of around 180 personnel of the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to beef up the security presence.
Details of Hadi’s death
Hadi, a prominent activist in the violent student-led street movement of 2024 known as the July Uprising that toppled the Awami League government of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was also a candidate in the February 12 parliamentary election.
He was shot dead in the capital on 12 December during the campaign and later died of his injuries.
Hours after Hadi’s death in December, his supporters torched the offices of two mass newspapers, the Daily Star and Prothom Alo, as well as the more than half-century-old progressive cultural groups Chayanat and Udichi Shilpi Goshthi in the capital. They also lynched a Hindu factory worker in downtown Mymensingh.
Last month, Hadi’s brother Omar Hadi told a protest rally that a section within the interim government planned the assassination to derail the February 12 election polls.
“Those who are in power when Osman Hadi was killed, you will not be able to escape responsibility,” Omar said.
The government allocated Taka 2 million (US$20 million) to help Hadi’s family and appointed his elder brother Abu Bakar Siddiq as Second Secretary at the Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Birmingham, UK.
