CCTV footage shows how a youth set fire to Pahela Baishakh motifs at DU
The youth, wearing a black t-shirt and khaki-coloured pants, then set fire to the motifs and exited the premises by climbing back over the wall within two minutes, shows the video
CCTV camera footage has captured the moment a youth climbed the boundary wall of Dhaka University's (DU) Faculty of Fine Arts and set fire to two motifs prepared for Pahela Baishakh celebrations, which will take place tomorrow (14 April) in the capital and across the country.
In the footage collected from police, the youth is seen putting on a surgical mask before scaling the pillar of one of the three gates of the faculty at around 4:45am yesterday (12 April).
The youth, wearing a black t-shirt and khaki-coloured pants, then set fire to the motifs and exited the premises by climbing back over the wall within two minutes, shows the video.
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Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has said that it has identified the suspect and expects to make an arrest soon.
"The individual involved in setting fire to the motifs — a symbolic face representing autocracy and a pigeon for peace— has already been identified. We hope to arrest the individual before the Anondo Shobhajatra begins tomorrow morning," DMP Commissioner SM Sazzat Ali told journalists this morning (13 April).
"We are very close to solving the case," he said during a briefing after inspecting the security arrangements for the Pahela Baishakh celebrations at Ramna Park.
Following the incident yesterday, Mohammad Amanullah, a supervisor at DU's estate office, filed a case at Shahbagh Police Station against unidentified leaders and activists of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The university authorities have also formed a five-member committee to investigate the matter.
The arson took place a day after the Fine Arts Faculty announced that this year's traditional "Mongol Shobhajatra" would be renamed "Anondo Shobhajatra." The theme of this year's celebrations is "Unity of Noboborsha, End of Fascism."
One of the installations, a humanoid face symbolising fascism, was completely destroyed. The other motif, a pigeon representing peace, was partially damaged.
