Residents of Miranzilla Harijan Colony in Dhaka鈥檚 Bangshal area organised a rally at central Shaheed Minar in the city on Thursday to protest against their eviction without proper rehabilitation.
Sweepers at the rally said that Dhaka South City Corporation should ensure their proper rehabilitation before evicting them from the colony, where they had resided for 400 years.
School students from the sweeper community participated in the rally, wearing uniforms and holding the national flag.
Speakers highlighted that children could not concentrate on their studies due to the fear of eviction.
They lamented that children of the community had to protest in the streets instead of focusing on their education.
After the rally, protesters attempted to march towards the prime minister鈥檚 office to hand over an eight-point memorandum at about 1:15pm but were stopped by the police.
Later, police allowed them to march from Shaheed Minar up to Bangabandhu Tower on the Dhaka University campus.
Shahbagh police station inspector (investigation) Shah Alam said that police barred the march to maintain law and order.
After the march, representatives of the sweeper community went to prime minister鈥檚 office to submit the memorandum to Sheikh Hasina.
Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Ruhin Hossain, Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad president professor Nimchandra Bhowmik, and Nagorik Udyog chief executive Zakir Hossain were among those, who spoke at the rally.
On June 10, the DSCC began evicting a section of residents from the Miranzilla Harijan Sweepers Colony in Bangshal, Old Dhaka.
The DSCC mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh stated on June 9 that a decision to expand the existing kitchen market at Miranzilla was made in February 2016, and they started implementing the project this year.
