Protest in Dhaka over US shooting of Bangladeshi youth

Staff Reporter :
Over a hundred people form a human chain in front of the Foreign Ministry in the capital on Monday demanded justice over the killing of a Bangladeshi expatriate student in the US recently.
Holding banners and placards which read ‘Human Rights are Violated in the US Today,’ ‘Justice for Faisal, ”Bangladeshi killed in the US, why is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs silent?’ and ‘Stop Violations of Human Rights’.
The protesters under the banner of Conscious Citizens Society demanded that the Foreign Ministry and Bangladesh Missions abroad would protest the violation of human rights of Bangladeshi abroad.
Sayed Arif Faisal, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was shot dead by police in the city of Cambridge on January 4.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen arrived at the spot of the human chain, but it had already ended.
He, however, told the media that such protest was not ‘encouraging’.
“The USA has the rule of law. Whenever such incidents happen they investigate it and justice is done. We also believe that the victim will also get justice after being investigated,” he added.
On the other hand, the US Embassy in Dhaka extended its support regarding the demands of Bangladeshi people for the investigation into the killing of a Bangladeshi-American student of University of Massachusetts.
 “The US Embassy extends its condolences to the family and loved ones of Sayed Faisal. We support calls by the local community and government for a thorough and transparent
investigation by the District Attorney’s Office,” US Embassy Spokesperson Jeff Ridenour said in the statement on Monday.
While talking with the journalists in his office, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said that the Bangladesh embassy in Washington had already raised the matter with the US administration.
“The US government has assured us that justice will be done. The police officer who shot the Bangladeshi student will be temporarily suspended or removed from his duties.”
“We have been informed that this has happened. We hope, as they do, that a Bangladeshi citizen will get justice there,” he added.
 The protest took place just ahead of the visiting US National Security Council’s Senior Director for South Asia Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher’s scheduled meeting on Monday afternoon with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen at the foreign ministry. She arrived in the capital on Saturday for a four-day visit.
One of the protesters, Hasibur Rahman Manik, a councillor for Ward-26 in the Dhaka South City Corporation, said that he attended the human chain to protest such an incident so that the world could know what was happening in the US.
“We are protesting because one of our Bangalee brothers was shot dead. The US has violated human rights. The US always talks about human rights. The human rights of a Bangladeshi student have been violated,” he added.
 “If something happens in our country, foreign diplomats protest it. Let the diplomats from different countries protest it now. Our protest is meant for sending message to the world about the human rights situation in the USA,” he continued.