The vandalism of and arson attacks on the Awami League leaders’ homes by agitating students and people continued for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.
They also continued to vandalise murals of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Agitating people on Friday night vandalised and set fire to the house of former Borhanuddin municipality mayor Rafiqul Islam, also the party’s upazila unit general secretary.
Borhanuddin police inspector for investigation Ripon Kumar Saha said that they were informed of the incident at about 9:00pm on Friday but did not visit the place as no complaints were filed.
‘We came to know about the matter from our sources. We will take legal actions after receiving complaints in this connection,’ the inspector added.
Another group on Saturday morning vandalised ‘Bangabandhu Swadhinata Smritistambha’ at Swadhinata Chattar in Faridpur’s Boalmari upazila, United News of Bangladesh reported.
Using an excavator at about 9:30am, they destroyed the memorial, featuring a mural of Sheikh Mujib sitting on a boat.
Boalmari police officer-in-charge Mohammad Golam Rasul said that with his force he went to the spot and tried to prevent the attackers since the interim government chief adviser called for refraining from vandalising any establishments.
‘But the agitating people defied our attempts and demolished the memorial,’ said the officer.
In Sirajganj, two houses belonging to late Awami League leader Hasibur Rahman Swapan, also a former lawmaker for Sirajganj-6 constituency, were vandalised and set on fire in Sayedabad area on Thursday night, the UNB reported quoting police officials.
Sirajganj Sadar police officer-in-charge Hymayon Kabir said that he had heard about the incident from locals.
‘However, no formal complaint has been lodged yet,’ he added.
Interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Friday called for peace and order, saying that no further attacks on any citizens on any pretexts must not happen.
The fresh spate of such attacks began on Wednesday evening when agitators stormed the Sheikh Mujib’s Dhanmondi Road 32 house, already broken in a violent attack on August 5, just after the fall of the Awami League regime amid a student-mass uprising leading to then prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster and fleeing to India.
In the fresh attack, the agitators vandalised the remnants of the house, which was Bangabandhu Memorial Museum until the fall of the AL regime, set it on fire and bulldozed it, razing it to the ground.Â
The members of law enforcement and security agencies were largely inactive when the house’s demolition was going on as well as in other attacks launched on the homes of Awami League leaders in different parts of the country, including Dhaka city.
At Dhanmondi 32 on Saturday morning, a large crowd was seen visiting the ground of the demolished historic building. Many of them were seen cutting rods, bricks and other materials from the remaining structure of the building still standing.
Many were also seen buying scrap roads, steel and wood from low income people who collected them from the razed ground.
