The area in front of Shahbagh Police Station turned tense on Saturday night over the playing of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s March 7 speech.

The tension followed the detention of a leader of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League after the speech was played through a sound box at Chankharpul in the capital earlier in the day.

In protest, several people announced a programme to play the speech again in front of Shahbagh police station.

Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emi, a former student of Dhaka University and a vice-president candidate in the last Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election from the Pratirodh Parishad panel backed by several left-leaning organisations, was the key organiser of the programme.

Leaders and activists of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union and Jatiya Chhatra Shakti took a counter-position at the spot in protest against the programme, creating tension between the two sides.

As part of the programme, the speech was played through a sound box placed on a rickshaw in front of the police station at about 9:30pm.

Around 10:00pm, several people allegedly arrived and smashed the microphone and battery. A scuffle broke out when organisers tried to resist them.

Emi told reporters, “Even if we are only one person, we will continue to uphold the spirit of the Liberation War. No matter how much they attack, they will not be able to suppress us.”

After the scuffle, Emi and others remained in front of the nearby museum area. At about 10:30pm, leaders and activists of DUCSU and Jatiya Chhatra Shakti arrived at the spot.

Later, around 10:50pm, DUCSU literary and cultural affairs secretary Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad and social welfare secretary Zubair Bin Nesary (AB Zubair) dragged the rickshaw into the premises of Shahbagh Police Station.

At that time, Al Mamun, assistant secretary of the banned Chhatra League’s Shahid Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall unit who was with Emi, was dragged to the police station gate where he was beaten. Later, Emi and Mamun were taken inside the police station.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ramna Zone) Masud Alam said action would be taken over the incident. When asked whether Emi and Mamun would be detained, he did not respond.

Responding to the allegation, Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad said, ‘They are trying to rehabilitate the organisation. So we dragged Emi along with the rickshaw and handed him over to police.’

Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the March 7 speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was played through a sound box at Chankharpul intersection. Police later detained two people, including Asif Ahmed, from the spot and took them to Shahbagh Police Station.

Attempts to contact Shahbagh Police Station officer-in-charge Mohammad Moniruzzaman for comment were unsuccessful as he did not receive calls.