Armed with bamboo sticks, iron bars and pipes, the mob attacks the supporters of the ousted leader and prevents them from reaching a memorial in memory of his father.
Hundreds of student protesters and political activists, who vowed to protect Bangladesh's student-led “revolution,” attacked supporters of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and prevented them from reaching the home of her father, slain independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The rally was called on Thursday by supporters of Hasina's Awami League party to mark the anniversary of the killing of Rahman and other members of his family on August 15, 1975, during a military coup. Hasina survived along with her younger sister because they were visiting Germany.
Hasina's government had declared August 15 a national holiday, but the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took power after Hasina's ouster, cancelled the holiday.
Armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes and with no police in sight, hundreds of people blocked the entrance to the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Hasina’s family home in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area, which has been converted into a memorial to her father. Rahman is affectionately called “bangabandhu,” or “friend of Bengal.”
Protesters set fire to the house hours after Hasina, 76, resigned and fled to India on August 5, in a dramatic end to her 15-year rule. Her ouster followed an uprising in which more than 300 people were killed.
In her first public statement since her abrupt departure, Hasina asked her supporters earlier this week to “pray for the salvation of all souls by offering flower garlands and praying” outside the memorial.
But Hasina's opponents said they would prevent her supporters from gathering because they might try to create chaos in the name of the commemoration. In the evening, they held a party with loudspeakers and songs as they danced outside the museum.
“Fugitive dictator Sheikh Hasina has ordered her thugs and militants to the scene so that they can carry out a counter-revolution,” Imraul Hasan Kayes, 26, told AFP news agency.
“We are here to protect our revolution and not let it slip through our fingers.”
Several people suspected by the mob to be Awami League supporters were beaten with sticks, while others were forcibly escorted away.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's interim government announced Thursday that the United Nations would investigate “atrocities” committed during weeks-long protests that toppled Hasina's government.
The announcement came after a telephone conversation between Yunus and top UN human rights official Volker Turk on Wednesday, and interim government officials said UN investigators were likely to arrive next week.
Hasina's government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents during her 15 years in power.
Local authorities have also launched investigations into allegations of murder, genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the ousted Hasina, her cabinet colleagues and senior security officials.
