Some students and people threw shoes at the photos of several celebrities on Saturday, labelling them as ‘cultural fascists’ for paying tributes to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in their social media posts on his anniversary of death.
The shoe throwing protest was organised at the base of the Anti-terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture on Dhaka University campus at about 5:00pm.
Organisers described the demonstration as a protest against Mujibism and cultural fascism.
During the protest, participants hurled shoes at the pictures of actors Jaya Ahsan, Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, Meher Afroz Shaon, film star Shakib Khan, cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, news anchor Farabi Hafiz and media personality Abdun Noor Tushar, among others.
Protesters alleged that by paying tributes to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, who, along with his family and others, were killed on August 15 in 1975, these celebrities were attempting to re-establish ‘cultural fascism’.
They said the programme was meant to express anger towards those public figures.
DU proctor Saifuddin Ahmed told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·, ‘We have been informed about the programme. We don’t know about the organisers.’
As the day was Janmashtami, the proctorial team was occupied with crowd management due to a large gatherings, he added.