Anti-discrimination student movement concert cancelled over security concern

An open concert titled ‘Rebuilding the Nation’, organised under the banner of 'Anti-discrimination Student Movement' was supposed to be held on the old trade fair ground in Agargaon area of Dhaka tomorrow, Saturday (22 February).

However, the organisers have suddenly decided to cancel the event just one day before the scheduled date. It has been confirmed on behalf of the organisers that the concert has been cancelled for the time being due to security concerns.

Secretary of the cultural cell of the 'Anti-discrimination Student Movement', Salauddin Sourav told Prothom Alo, “The concert has been cancelled for now on security issue. Safety of the participants, audience and other people involved is our highest priority.”

“This decision has been taken considering the situation. Everything was ready, but we don’t want to take any risks. Our initial plan was to postpone it to the next week. However, the holy month of Ramadan is starting so, we are planning to organise it again after the Eid,” he added.

The main attraction of this concert was James of Nagar Baul band. The list of other bands and artistes supposed to perform at the concert included Chirkutt, Artcell, Shonar Bangla Circus, Bengal Symphony, Bangla Five, Cryptic Fate, Kureghar, Kaktal and singer Farzana Wahid Shayan among many others.

Earlier, it was said on behalf of the organisers, “This is going to be one of the largest open concerts in the history of Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of people will be able to listen to music together safely at the concert venue.” 

“Various bands from the country will perform in front of them. We have arranged the concert lineup with local artistes, who took a stand for the movement without thinking about their careers during the movement,” they added.