JaPa headquarters vandalised, set on fire

The headquarters of Jatiya Party (JaPa) in the capital's Bijoynagar area has been vandalised and set on fire.

The incident took place this evening when a group of people, under the banner of anti-fascist students, workers, and general citizens, marched in a procession to the JaPa headquarters. It led to a chase and counter-chase there, with both sides throwing brick chips at each other.

However, they both claimed that they were attacked first.

As per a pre-announcement, Bin Yamin Molla, former president of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, led a torch procession from the Raju memorial sculpture on the Dhaka University campus to Bijoynagar, via Shahbag.

JaPa secretary general Mujibul Haque told Prothom Alo around 8:00 pm that a group came from the Shahbag area with torches and attacked the party office.

leaders and activists were present at the office during the attack today as JaPa sought police permission to hold a rally on the headquarters premises on Saturday, he added.

Detailing the incident, Mujibul Haque said the attackers fled the scene when confronted by JaPa activists, but returned about half an hour later and set fire to the office.

“The fire service arrived, but were prevented from extinguishing the blaze. If the office of a political party is attacked like this, what is democracy for? What is politics for?” he questioned.

Meanwhile, Hasnat Abdullah, convener of Students Against Discrimination, wrote on his personal Facebook profile: “National traitor Jatiya Party beat up our brothers with weapons at Bijoynagar, and are marching with arms. Now, the ouster of these national traitors is certain.”

In a separate post, he announced that they would move from the Raju memorial sculpture towards Bijoynagar with a procession around 8:30 pm, adding, “National traitors must be wiped out.”

Sarjis Alam, former coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, posted a similar status on Facebook.

When visiting the JaPa office around 8:15 pm, it was seen that firefighters had extinguished the fire on the ground floor. However, vandalism was still ongoing.

On the spot, Hasan Al Mamun, joint general secretary of Gono Odhikar Parishad, told Prothom Alo that JaPa men had suddenly attacked them with arms when they arrived at Bijoynagar after a rally at Shahbag.