Dhaka: Thousands of protestors gathered in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on Saturday under the banner of ‘March for Gaza’, expressing solidarity with Palestine and slamming the United States for backing Israel.
They chanted slogans like “Free Palestine”, “Stop Israeli aggression”, “Boycott Israeli products”, “Boycott US and Donald Trump”, and so on, local media reported.
Several media reports also suggested that the protestors beat the images of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Leading political parties of Bangladesh – Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), Hefazet-e-Islam Bangladesh and Amar Bangladesh Party – and several Islamic speakers came out in support of the event.
The protestors called on leaders of the Muslim world to cancel all existing agreements and diplomatic relations with Israel. They also demanded reinstatement of the ‘except Israel’ clause in Bangladeshi passports.
The country’s leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported that people started marching toward Suhrawardy Udyan from various places of Dhaka from the morning to join the mass gathering, halting traffic in Shabagh and adjacent areas.
On Thursday Khaleda Zia’s BNP also brought out a rally in Dhaka expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza and Rafah in Palestine.
Earlier this week, similar pro-Palestine protests erupted in the country, leading to violence in several parts of the region. The mob targetted Israeli-linked businesses and also several outlets of foreign companies.
Security was beefed up in Dhaka’s diplomatic enclave, particularly around the US embassy, following the protests in the area. Personnel from Border Guard Bangladesh, Armed Police Battalion, Special Branch, Criminal Investigation Department, intelligence agencies and Bangladesh army were deployed to monitor security in the highly-sensitive zone.
In addition, security measures were increased at other embassies in the Gulshan area.
Saturday’s protests once again exposed the deteriorating law and order situation in Bangladesh even though the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has said that people responsible for violence and destruction during the earlier pro-Palestine protests will be apprehended.
(IANS)
