July Mancha reportedly attack on ‘Gaaner Artanad’ event

An attack has been carried out on the ‘Gaaner Artanad’ event, organized to protest the arrest of Baul Abul Sarkar and attacks on Baul artists in Manikganj and Thakurgaon.

The incident took place in front of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University in Shahbagh in the capital at 4:30pm on Friday (November 28).

The organizers and participants of the ‘Gaaner Artanad’ event alleged that some members of the July Mancha carried out the attack during the event. They alleged that some ‘volunteers’ from the ‘Concert for Dhaka’ event joined the July Mancha and carried out the attack. At one stage of the incident, there was a scuffle and tension between the two sides.

Sami Abdullah, General Secretary of the Dhaka University unit of the Revolutionary Students’ Alliance, said in this regard: "Some people from the July Mancha and Usman Hadi’s vote campaign concert attacked our pre-announced programme. It was completely pre-planned. They had gathered at various points before the event started. They vandalized our banners."

Mishkat Tanisha, one of the participants in the programme, complained, ‘One of the attackers threatened to hit me with a shoe.’

On Friday, July Manch organized a July rally in front of the National Museum in Shahbagh to ‘ensure maximum punishment for those who hurt religious values’ and ‘prevent cultural conspiracy arising to destroy national harmony.’

Masum Billah, who was present at the July Manch programme, said: "We were at our event and requested them that they should not hold any programme in favor of those who insult religion. But they did not listen. They came forward keeping the girls on the frontline. These are not girls, they are terrorists, they attacked in front of them."

An organizer named Shahriar Alam said: "We told them that no cultural fascism will be allowed here."

Another organizer, Md. Wasir, said: "We told them to continue the protest, but the name of Abul Sarkar should be removed."

Marzia Prabha, one of the organizers of the ‘Ganeer Artanad’, said: "The July Mancha mob attacked the event organized to demand the release of Baul Abul Sarkar and protest against attacks on Bauls across the country. They first came and started shouting on the microphone and saying that Abul Sarkar’s name should be removed. They broke our backdrop. Our friends strongly resisted this mob."

She said that the attackers could not stop the programme.