A confrontation erupted outside Shahbagh Police Station last night regarding the broadcast of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s significant March 7 speech, leading to the assault of a Dhaka University student accused of connections to the banned Chhatra League.
The conflict began when authorities apprehended Asif Ahmed, a former DU student and BCL member, for airing the March 7 speech through a loudspeaker at Chankharpul intersection earlier that evening.
According to Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner Masud Alam, police were informed in the afternoon about a DU BCL leader playing the March 7 speech on a loudspeaker in the Chankharpul locality. Police brought him to the station for protection, fearing potential attacks.
Following the detainment, Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emi, a candidate for the vice-president position in the Ducsu 2025 election, declared on social media that the March 7 speech would be played in front of Shahbagh Police Station.
Subsequently, several DU students, along with members of Bangladesh Chhatra Union, gathered in front of the police station around 9:30 pm. As the speech was broadcasted via loudspeakers, a verbal altercation ensued when certain individuals demanded it to be halted.
Soon after, another group arrived and tried to disrupt the program, leading to a clash between the two sides. Individuals opposing the speech identified themselves as “ordinary citizens.”
Later, members of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti’s DU unit appeared and protested against the speech. Ducsu leaders, including Literary and Cultural Affairs Secretary Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad and Social Welfare Secretary AB Zubair, also joined the demonstration.
Around 10:30 pm, Jatiya Chhatra Shakti activists, accompanied by AB Zubair and Musaddiq, escorted Emi, who was carrying a microphone on a rickshaw, to Shahbagh Police Station.
Video footage circulating on social media showed that around 10:45 pm, Chhatra Shakti activists and protesters assaulted a DU student named Al Mamun, accusing him of Chhatra League affiliation.
Mamun, a student of the 2020-21 academic session, was attacked, initially ejected from the police station, and then dragged back inside. At one point, an individual was seen pulling Emi’s hair.
Both Emi and Mamun were subsequently handed over to the police. Earlier, former Ducsu leaders and locals chased the demonstrators in front of the station around 9:30 pm, leading to injuries to two journalists filming the incident.
Police intervened to rescue the injured journalists, and efforts are underway to identify the perpetrators of the journalist attacks through collected CCTV footage.
DC Masud mentioned that a case was being filed concerning the incident while the detained individual remained in custody. Prior to this event, police had arrested six individuals attempting a procession to lay a wreath at Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s residence at Dhanmondi 32 to commemorate the day. The detainees were identified as Runa Begum, Janata Begum, Akchari Kahn Urmi, Shohel Miji, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, and Mohammad Jasim Uddin.
