The houses of many leaders of the Awami League were vandalised and torched in different districts in the country on Thursday after a large number of people, including student protesters, had begun demolishing the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum building in the capital’s Dhanmondi area Wednesday evening.
The members of law enforcement and security agencies played a silent role in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country during the vandalism.
The agitators also vandalised murals and portraits of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his daughter and ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of the Awami League.
Mujib’s Dhanmondi 32 house was razed to the ground and agitators were seen taking away materials and furniture, among other things, from there after the building had been bulldozed overnight.
The building that housed the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum was vandalised earlier on August 5 when Hasina fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising.
Terming the vandalism at Dhanmondi 32 unwarranted and unexpected, the interim government in a statement on Thursday said that it was an outburst of public agony caused by ‘Sheikh Hasina’s provocative remarks against the July uprising’.
‘If Sheikh Hasina, who is facing an arrest warrant for committing crimes against humanity, refrains from delivering speeches, recurrence of such incidents could be avoided,’ said the statement shared by the chief adviser’s press wing.
Between the early hours and afternoon on Thursday, agitated people vandalised and torched AL general secretary Obaidul Quader’s village home in Noakhali, AL leader Tofail Ahmed’s home in Bhola district town, the homes of former minister Amir Hossain Amu and former chief whip Abul Hasanat Abdullah in Barishal city, former state minister Shahriar Alam’s village home in Rajshahi, and former AL lawmaker Shafiqul Islam Shimul’s home in Natore town, reports received from the districts said.
In Dhaka, a large number of people, including students, continued to demolish the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum building at Dhanmondi till Thursday evening in the backdrop of Sheikh Hasina’s address to the country’s students Wednesday evening.
The agitators stormed into the building at about 8:00pm on the day.
The agitated people rejoiced the vandalism throughout the night with the screening of July uprising documentaries, dancing by playing Bangla and Hindi songs and chanting slogans against the Awami League, Sheikh Mujib, Sheikh Hasina, and India.
On Thursday afternoon, people were seen looting bricks, rods, books, and other goods from the building, which was declared a heritage by the Rajdhani Unnyan Kartipakkha in 2009.
In the afternoon, students were chanting slogans including ‘Nara-e-Takbeer, Allahu Akbar’, ‘Mujibbad Murdabad, Inquilab Zindabad’, ‘Swairacharer Astana Bhenge Dao Guriye Dao’ ‘Delhi or Dhaka, Dhaka Dhaka’.
The protesters also brought out a procession in the Dhanmondi area demanding the resignation of the country’s president Mohammed Shahabuddin, bringing Sheikh Hasina back to Bangladesh from India, and capital punishment for Hasina for her involvement in the killings during the July mass uprising.
Many curious people and their families, including children, also visited the Dhanmondi 32 house to witness the condition of the historic building.
Sheikh Mujib used to run his political activities from his Dhanmondi 32 home.
Besides, unidentified people set fire to Sheikh Hasina’s late husband’s house Sudha Sadan in the Dhanmondi area at about 11:00pm on Wednesday and the fire was not doused till Thursday evening.
People were looting valuables, furniture, and other goods from Sudha Sadan till Thursday afternoon.
On Thursday night, former AL lawmaker AKM Shamim Osman’s ancestral home Baitul Aman Bhaban in Narayanganj city was demolished by students and people using an excavator, ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· correspondent in Narayanganj reported.
Asked about police inaction during such incidents, the police headquarters asked ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· to send the question in writing. The police headquarters, however, did not respond to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·â€™s written question in this regard.
The murals and portraits of Sheikh Mujib were vandalised in many places across the country.
¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· Correspondent in Jashore reported that around 10 murals of Sheikh Mujib were vandalised at several places in Jashore town early Thursday.
Local people set fire to and vandalised the house of Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed on Gazipur Road in Bhola district town, United News of Bangladesh reported.
On Wednesday night, protesters also demolished Sheikh Hasina’s cousin and AL leader Sheikh Helal Uddin Ahmed’s Khulna house and AL joint general secretary Mahbub ul Alam Hanif’s Kushtia house.
A group of agitating students of Jahangirnagar University on Wednesday night vandalised the Mural of Sheikh Mujib and Sheikh Hasina on the campus.
Rights group Ain o Salish Kendra on Thursday condemned the incidents of vandalism and arson at places in the country, including the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum building.
