Ban of AL: DU students hold midnight procession, announce fresh protest

A group of students of Dhaka University (DU), who held a procession late night on Friday (21 March) demanding the ban of Awami League as a political party, announced a protest rally slated for the afternoon. 

Musaddik Ali Ibne Mohammad, DU's Bangla Department student, announced their next programme at 3:00pm, calling for the ban as well as justice for mass killings. 

He called upon the students to gather at the Raju Memorial Sculpture area of the Dhaka University, and urged other students to hold protest programmes in solidarity in their respective campuses.

DU students staging demo. Photo: Collected

At around 2am, students from different halls gathered at the TSC area chanting various slogans, and left the area a couple of hours later. 

Musaddik Ali, who participated in the protest at TSC, said, "The Awami League has committed genocide, and more than 30,000 people have been injured in the movement. Therefore, the Awami League has no right to do politics anymore. This party must be banned immediately."

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The demonstration began shortly after Hasnat Abdullah, chief organiser (South) of the National Citizen Party (NCP), alleged that a vested group has been hatching a plan to bring ousted Awami League back to to power, and demanded its immediate ban as a political party. 

In a Facebook post tonight (21 March), he wrote, "Let us unite against the Awami League… If the Awami League returns to politics, July [2024 uprising] will be a failure. As long as there is a single drop of blood in our veins, we will not let the blood of our martyrs go to waste. After 5 August, there will be no opportunity for the Awami League to come back in Bangladesh…The Awami League must be banned, once and for all."

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Earlier on the day, Chief Adviser told a delegation from the International Crisis Group led by Dr Comfort Ero that the interim government has no plans to ban Awami League, but individuals within its leadership accused of crimes, including murder and crimes against humanity, will be tried in Bangladesh's courts.