Staff Reporter :
Family members of dismissed and imprisoned BDR personnel continued their protests for the second consecutive day on Thursday at Shahbagh intersection, demanding the release of “innocent jawans,” a reinvestigation into the Pilkhana tragedy, and the reinstatement of dismissed members.
The demonstrators broke through police barricades placed in front of the National Museum to reach the intersection, where they held a sit-in for about two hours in the afternoon. Around 3:30 pm, the protesters left Shahbagh and marched toward the Central Shaheed Minar, urging the government to accept their demands.
Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Khaled Mansur confirmed the matter to the media, stating, “Around 1:30 pm, members of the BDR victims’ families gathered at Shahbagh intersection, halting vehicular movement.”
Anti-discrimination Student Movement coordinator Mahin Sarkar visited the site and expressed solidarity with the protesters.
On January 8, members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), who were dismissed following the 2009 Pilkhana carnage, blocked the Shahbagh intersection in the capital, demanding reinstatement into the force, now renamed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). Family members of those imprisoned following the massacre during the two-day mutiny at the paramilitary force’s headquarters on 25-26 February 2009 also joined the protest, demanding their release.
