A group of July-August uprising victims, including several undergoing treatment at hospitals, blocked different roads in Dhaka city until Sunday evening starting from the previous evening, pressing for demands, including proper medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Md Arman, an injured protester, said that they started their blockade of the roads in front of two hospitals, namely National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation and National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, at about 7:00pm on Saturday to continue the whole night.聽聽
The protesters, including patients from the two hospitals, on Sunday blocked both sides of Mirpur Road at about 11:00am, causing a massive traffic gridlock on the road and adjacent areas, said Mohammadpur patrol inspector Imran.聽聽
The protesters issued an ultimatum, demanding that an adviser to the interim government must visit them at the protest site by 6:00pm, or they would lay siege to the state guest house Jamuna, the official residence of chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
As no one from the government visited them, the protesters started coming towards Jamuna about 7:00pm on rickshaws or foot,聽 said protester Arman.聽聽聽
They reached in front of InterContinental Dhaka hotel at around 7:40pm but were unable to go further due to security barricades put by the police. The protesters were staying at that spot, said protester Qurban Sheikh Hillol at about 9:00pm.
鈥榃e would continue our sit-in until any of the interim government adviser comes here,鈥� said Imran at about 10:00pm. Imran said that he was injured by rubber bullets on August 4 in front of the Shahbagh police station.
Their demands included fair compensation, speedy trial of those involved in the July-August massacre, state recognition of the uprising victims, ensuring their safety through the formation of a 鈥榮afety act,鈥� and abolition of the government-created categories for injured individuals based on the severity of injuries.聽
Amid the demonstration, disaster management and relief adviser Faruk-E-Azam said on Sunday that the government has allocated Tk 232 crore for the rehabilitation of families of those killed and people injured during the uprising, reports United News of Bangladesh.
Families of the deceased will receive Tk 10 lakh in savings certificates while the injured victims will receive Tk 3 lakh, Tk 2 lakh, or Tk 1 lakh based on the severity of their injuries, the adviser told reporters after a meeting at the ministry鈥檚 conference room at the secretariat.
The adviser said that a policy for the rehabilitation of the victim families and the injured was under formulation which would ensure medical treatment for the injured round the year.
Since November 13, 2024, victims of the uprising repeatedly took to the streets to press home their demands, following the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus assuming power on August 8, 2024, three days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 authoritarian regime on August 5, 2024.
According to the government data, 834 people were killed and 11,551 injured during the mass uprising.
The government is still updating the data.