Dhaka: A scuffle unfolded in front of Shahbagh Police Station on Saturday night after a crowd assembled to demand the release of a banned Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader detained for allegedly playing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic March 7 speech on a sound system in the Dhaka University area. The incident occurred around 10:30 pm.
According to United News of Bangladesh, Shahbagh Police earlier detained Asif Ahmed from the Chankharpul area of the capital, along with a sound system for playing the March 7 speech. Asif Ahmed is a student from the 2018-19 session of the Physics Department at Dhaka University. He served as the employment affairs secretary of the Dr Muhammad Shahidullah Hall unit of the banned BCL and faces accusations of involvement in attacks on students participating in an anti-discrimination student movement at Dhaka University on July 15, 2024. A video allegedly shows him participating in the assault on students.
His Facebook account mentions his affiliation with the Shahidullah Hall unit of BCL. His name and photograph appeared in several news reports published in August 2024, connecting him to alleged extortion activities in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital area.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Tasnim Afroze Emi, former vice-president of the Shamsunnahar Hall Students’ Union at Dhaka University, organised a programme in front of Shahbagh Police Station demanding Asif’s release. Emi, a candidate for the vice-president post in the 2025 DUCSU election from the left-leaning student alliance panel ‘Protirodh Parshad’, urged supporters to play the March 7 speech daily on campus until Asif’s release.
During the programme, Emi and a group played the March 7 speech on loudspeakers in front of the police station. Some activists of the banned BCL were present, including Abdullah Al Mamun and Arif Monwar Mahin, both accused in the July 15 attack on Dhaka University students.
A group reportedly vandalised the microphone, taking its battery, while saying, ‘Awami League and their associates will not be spared.’ The identities of the group could not be confirmed immediately.
Following the incident, Emi wrote on Facebook about the unprovoked attack and the fear and insecurity it provoked. Later, several leaders of Dhaka University Chhatra Shakti gathered in front of Shahbagh Police Station, chanting slogans against the Awami League and BCL.
Around 11 pm, DUCSU social welfare secretary AB Zubayer and literary secretary Mosaddeq Ali Ibn Mohammad, along with other Chhatra Shakti leaders, brought the microphone inside the police station premises, leading to another scuffle. A group attempted to hand over BCL activist Al Mamun to the police.
Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Ramna Zone Masud Alam stated, ‘We have learned that the detained person is a posted leader of the Chhatra League. Since the Chhatra League is banned and we have found some links to their controversial role during the July movement, he is not being released now. Legal action will be taken.’ He also commented on the loudspeaker incident, indicating it seemed deliberate, but had no comment regarding the March 7 speech’s historic significance.