More than 400 cultural activists organised a programme titled Justice for Student in front of Jatiya Sangsad protesting at deaths of students in the ongoing anti-quota student movement on Friday morning.
Writer and activist Rahnuma Ahmed, educationist and activist Samina Lutfa, activist Saydia Gulrukh, Theatre activist Kazi Toufiqul Islam Emon, Mohammad Ali Haider, Faiz Jahir, Kazi Roksana Ruma, Bakar Bakul, musician Krishnakali, Kanak Aditya, artist and poet Mustafa Zaman, artist Shehzad Chowdhury, photographer Mishuk Ashraful Awal and Sadia Sharmin, among others, participated in the protest.
Theatre troupes Prachyanat, BotTala, Tarua, Opera, Desh Natok, Anushwar, Arannyak, Theatre 52 also participated in the protest while Tarua performers staged a performance depicting the students losing their lives in the movement.
鈥榃e are concerned about the violent clashes in various parts of the country amid the ongoing quota reform movement where police are killing protesters. The government is not interested to discuss the issue with the protesters but rather trying to halt it by engaging a student organisation which is making the movement violent. The police are also trying to halt the movement violently and more than 26 people have already lost their lives in this movement,鈥� Kazi Toufiqul Islam Emon read a statement on behalf of the cultural activists.
鈥榃e are not concerned about the political identity of any citizen killed in the movement. We demand a judicial inquiry into deaths of people in the clashes. We also demand stopping firing at the protesting students by the police. The government must take responsibilities for these killings. We demand justice for the students,鈥� added Emon in the statement.
Emon also said that artists would join the movement if any student was killed again by the police.
