A scuffle broke out at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in front of the stall of Sabysachi Publication over keeping a book of Taslima Nasrin, who has been living in exile in India, Monday.
Later, police closed down the stall. The person inside the stall has been taken to the police control room.
There were several posts on social media with the urge to demolish the stall raising allegations of promoting atheism. And the incident happened today.
Witnesses say a group of people gathered in front of the stall and asked the man inside the stall to remove the books of Taslima Nasrin. However, the man inside the stall protested. After that, the group of men started chanting different slogans. In response, the man inside the stall also chanted slogans.
As a result, the situation escalated rapidly and the police intervened. They took the man inside the stall to the police control centre and covered the stall with a tarpaulin.
The book fair committee was holding a meeting over the matter at the time of writing this report.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Shahbagh police station inspector (investigation) said he heard the news of the scuffle that broke out at the book fair and that a person has been taken to the police control room. But he could not provide any further detail.
A person named Muhammad Arif went live on Facebook during the scuffle. It shows a group of people entering the stall after switching off the light. They declared to vandalise the shop and put down the banner.
Later, police intervened and tried to bring the situation under control. At one point the police covered the shop with a tarpaulin to close the stall.