March for unity: Students, people gather at Shaheed Minar

Students and people from districts have gathered at the central Shaheed Minar premises at Dhaka University, marking the march for unity programme called by the Students Against Discrimination movement. 

They began thronging the premises in the morning. While talking to Prothom Alo, Molla Faruk Ehsan, the organiser of the march of unity, expressed optimism about the programme’s success, saying that the people showed significant interest in their programme. 

Until afternoon, nearly 1000 buses entered the capital with participants from different areas across the country, he said, adding the buses were parked in the former venue of the international trade fair.

He also noted that different demands, including announcement of the proclamation, gearing up the reform activities, and holding the criminals on trial, will be made from the march programme. 

The organiser mentioned that the march-bound buses came under attack in Mollahat upazila of Bagerhat. He condemned the attack. 

Works of setting up a stage on the Shaheed Minar premises began early in the morning, while students from different districts started for Dhaka at night. Some buses were seen parked on the central playground of Dhaka University. 

On the previous night, the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) announced the ‘March for Unity’ programme from the central Shaheed Minar, shifting away from their previous announcement for making the proclamation of July revolution from the same venue. 

Earlier on Sunday, the SAD leaders told a media conference that they would announce the “Proclamation of July revolution” at the Shaheed Minar on Tuesday.

In this regard, SAD leader Hasnat Abdullah said, “We want the Mujibist constitution to be declared buried. The grave of the Mujibist constitution of 1972 will be dug from the same place where the one-point demand was declared. We expect the Nazi Awami League will be declared irrelevant in the Proclamation of July revolution.”