Monday violence was to save war criminals
Say organisations
Different organisations yesterday said Jamaat-e-Islami men "staged the Monday's violence" in the capital and elsewhere in the country to protect its top leaders from war crimes trial.
The organisations urged the country people to be united against this conspiracy by Jamaat and ensure peaceful completion of the party leaders' trial by the International Crimes Tribunal.
In separate statements, they also demanded stern action against the Jamaat men who went on rampage during the Monday protest demanding release of five senior leaders of the party.
Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and his four other top leaders have been behind bar on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the country's liberation war in 1971.
On Monday, hundreds of Jamaat leaders and activists rioted with police, vandalised vehicles, and torched them in Kakrail, Bijoynagar, and Paltan areas in the capital and in Chittagong, Barisal, and Kushtia during demonstration that exploded into violence when police barred the protesters from holding rallies, processions, and other protest programmes.
Protesting the violence, several hundred leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, a pro-Awami League student body, brought out a procession and held a rally at Dhaka University demanding action against the Jamaat men involved. The BCL leaders alleged that the main opposition BNP backed Jamaat to carry out the rampage.
The student body also rallied at Jagannath University demanding punishment to the rioters.
Sammilito Samajik Andolan, Shamprodaiykota-Jongibad Birodhi Mancha, Sammilito Sangskritik Jote, and Bangabandhu Adorsha Forum condemned and protested the violence through press statements.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) Chairman Andaliv Rahman and Secretary General Shamim Al Mamun in a press release protested "police action" on Jamaat men, saying police attacked Jamaat men when they tried to bring out peaceful procession in the city on Monday.
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