Tireless vigil continues at Shahbagh

 

Protesters chant slogans at Shahbagh in the capital demanding death penalty for all war criminals. The photo is taken from facebook.

They sing inspirational songs with all their hearts, they shout slogans at the top of their voices, they dance to cheer up their comrades, they keep vigil round the clock for days—tireless. They are Shahbagh protesters.
Tuesday is fifteenth straight day that the Shahbagh protest entered into. There were good times which inspired the demonstrators as well as bad ones, like the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar and death of cartoonist Tariqul Islam Shanto, which cast gloom.

But on the top of it, there were, and still are, constant and active propaganda against the movement, which eyes a secular Bangladesh by ensuring capital punishment to the war criminals, a stigma the nation aims to get rid of. But the steely resolve, that of not returning home without seeing the demands met, spurs the youths from within to defy all hurdles.
Though the demonstrators kept vigil at night, their eyes dazzle in the morning, shunning all weariness and fatigue.
Their voices echoed with revolutionary slogans, songs and recitation that began on February 5, hours after a war crimes tribunal sentenced Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah to life term imprisonment for crimes against humanity during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
Meanwhile, several hundred protesters imbued with the spirit of the '71 and defying the cold wind of the spring morning began their day’s activities by rendering national anthem at the venue, popularly known as Projonmo Chottor around 6:30am.
Health and Family Welfare Minister AFM Ruhal Haque Tuesday afternoon expressed solidarity with the protestors joining Projonmo Chottor and said a new Bangladesh will be emerged from the Shahbagh demonstration.
"We will build a war criminal-free Bangladesh and no one will be able to prevent us from holding the trial of the war criminals. We will return to our homes after hanging them," the minister said.
"We have lost one Rajib, but we have hundreds of thousands of Rajib to continue the protest," he added.
Like previous days, people from all walks of life irrespective of age, sex and class gathered at the protest venue wholeheartedly since the morning to express solidarity with the protesters.
On Monday, the protesters declared to hold a grand rally at 3:00pm on February 21, the third of its kind since the protest began on February 5 demanding capital punishment to all war criminals.
They also called upon the people to write letters commemorating the martyrs of the Liberation War and tie those with balloons and release in the air at 4:13pm on February 20, the moment the Pakistani forces surrendered on 16 December 1971.
On Monday, black flags were hoisted at Shahbagh intersection and different educational institutions across the country in memory of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was brutally killed by unknown miscreants.
Rajib, also an activist of ongoing Shahbagh movement, was found stabbed dead near his house at Pallabi in the capital Friday night.
On Sunday, all the school, colleges and universities throughout the country hoisted national flag expressing solidarity with the Shahbagh protest.
Rejecting the verdict, Bloggers and Online Activist Network initiated the protest that soon turned into a mass movement.
Within a few days, it spread to other parts of the country and eventually abroad.