'Attack on Chhatra Jote rally a fascist assault to suppress dissent'

Thirty-two eminent citizens termed the attack on a Gonotantrik Chhatra Jote rally at the premises of the Chattogram Press Club as a fascist assault aimed at suppressing dissent and thoughts, as well as demanded the immediate arrest and trial of the perpetrators.

They said this in a press release sent to the media on Friday.

The statement said a mob (unruly crowd) was created under the name of ‘Shahbagh Birodhi Okya’ recently and an attack was launched on a peaceful rally organised by the Gonotantrik Chhatra Jote at the Chattogram Press Club.

As many as 18 were injured with three in critical condition. This planned and cowardly fascist attack was carried out to threaten the aspirations for a democratic establishment and freedom of expression, driven by the July uprising, the statement adds.

“We have learned that the Gonotantrik Chhatra Jote organised this rally in protest of the flawed judicial process that acquitted war criminal ATM Azharul Islam. If any individual or group disagreed with that rally, they had options to protest separately. Instead, creating a rowdy mob under the banner of ‘Shahbagh Birodhi Okya’ to attack peaceful demonstrators is by no means acceptable. In reality, it has become evident that an anti-independence group of 1971 under the ‘Shahbagh Birodhi Okya’ banner is involved with this attack.”

The statement further added that the July upsurge was driven by the aspirations to ensure democratic rights, freedom of speech and thought, as well as to establish a democratic environment.

Writer Ferdous Ara Aleem; Mahfuzur Rahman, a valiant freedom fighter and chairperson of Liberation War Research Centre; Akhtar Kabir Chowdhury, former general secretary of Chattogram District Bar Association ; University of Chittagong teacher and translator GH Habib; R Razee, Saima Alam, Munmun Nessa, Zihan Karim, journalist and author Ahmed Munir, poet Rishin Dastidar, Charan Cultural Centre coordinator Indrani Bhattacharya, Dhrubo Jyoti Hor, coordinator of Swapnanagar Bidyaniketan, poet and author Saikat Dey, anti-repression legal platform convenor Bhulon Bhowmik, teacher Zulekha Akter, and researcher Ishita Dastidar.

Earlier, on Wednesday, a rally of Gonotantrik Chhatra Jote came under attack in front of Chattogram Press Club in the port city’s Jamal Khan area. The assaulters snatched away their banner and burned it. The attack was carried out under the banner of ‘Shahbagh Birodhi Okya’. Members of Chhatra Shibir and a faction of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement were seen among the attackers.

Video clips of the incident that later made rounds on social media Facebook showed a man kicking two people, including a woman, from behind. One of the two perpetrators was identified as Akash Chowdhury.

Gonotantrik Chhatra Jote held a press conference on the matter at the Metropolitan Journalists Union conference room in the port city’s Love Lane area on Thursday, where the leftist student coalition alleged that members of Islami Chhatra Shibir were involved in the attack.

Meanwhile, Islami Chhatra Shibir’s Chattogram city north unit president Md Tanzir Hossain and secretary Muminul Haque issued a statement denying any presence of Shibir members at the scene.

They also claimed that Akash Chowdhury does not currently hold any post in Shibir and that no Shibir member was involved in such activities either.