Crowd besiege stall at Ekushey Book Fair for displaying Taslima Nasrin’s book
The situation is normal now, and security has been beefed up to avoid any untoward incidents, a DMP official said
A group of agitated people besieged a stall at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair this evening (10 February) over the display of a book written by Taslima Nasrin, who is in exile in neighbouring India.
The incident occurred this evening at a stall of Sabyasachi Publication, Abdullah Al Mamun, assistant commissioner, Ramna Zone of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, confirmed to The Business Standard.
"A group of people besieged the Sabyasachi stall and expressed their discontent over displaying a book written by Taslima Nasrin. However, the situation is quite normal now, and security has been beefed up to avoid untoward incidents," he said.
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However, he could not confirm the title of the book in question.
Several videos of the incident have gone viral on social media platforms.
In one of the videos, the crowd can be heard asking a writer, who was present in the stall, to "hold his ears".
The Dhaka Tribune, in a report, identified the writer as Shatabdi Vobo.
"He was taken out of the fair with the help of police. At that time, the writer had to publicly apologise. The stall was temporarily closed immediately after this," the Dhaka Tribune report states.
Citing Bangla Academy authorities, the report also said the stall has been reopened after the temporary closure.
The academy will decide on actions in this regard after a task force meeting, the report adds.
