The interim government has condemned the recent attacks on peaceful National Citizen Party (NCP) rally in Gopalganj on Wednesday.
In an official statement posted on Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’ official Facebook page, the interim governments labeled the violent attacks at the NCP rally, held to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the July Uprising, as “utterly indefensible”.
“Preventing young citizens from peacefully holding a rally to commemorate the one-year anniversary of their revolutionary movement is a shameful violation of their fundamental rights”, the statement read, going on to condemn the attacks, which had been carried out not only on members of NCP, but also on police officials and journalists.
Acknowledging allegations that the attacks were carried out by members of the banned Awami League’s Chhatra League and AL activists, the statement vowed to bring the perpetrators to book.
“There is no place for such violence against any citizen of Bangladesh,” it went on to say, praising the army and police’s prompt intervention to bring the situation under control.
“Those responsible for this brutality will face justice. Let it be made absolutely clear: violence has no place in our nation. Justice must and will prevail,” it concluded.
Earlier in the day, tensions escalated when the NCP rally stage was vandalised by two to three hundred individuals armed with wooden sticks and other such weapons. In the aftermath of escalating violence in the district, army forces in addition to police and four platoons of BGB were deployed to restore order.
The violent clashes were also followed by Gopalganj Deputy Commissioner Md Kamruzzaman imposing Section 144 across the district, confirmed by an executive magistrate.