Bangladeshi protesters attack supporters of ex-premier Hasina and harass journalists

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Hundreds of student protesters and political activists in Bangladesh, armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes, on Thursday, assaulted supporters of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and prevented them from reaching the previous house of her father and assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital.

The house in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area was turned into a museum to showcase narratives and other objects about a military coup on Aug. 15, 1975, when Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members. The house, now called Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, was torched by the protesters hours after Hasina’s downfall on Aug. 5 following an uprising during which more than three hundred people were killed.

Rahman is fondly called Bangabandhu or, a friend of Bengal.

Thursday is the anniversary of Rahman’s death, and Hasina, now self-exiled in India, urged her supporters to commemorate the day by paying respect to Rahman. Previously, Aug. 15 was a public holiday and was observed as a national mourning day by Hasina’s administration. But that has been canceled by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus following the ouster of Hasina, who survived in 1975 along with her younger sister because they were visiting Germany in 1975.

On Thursday, the protesters attacked Hasina’s supporters who attempted to get to the site. They manhandled many and checked the visitors’ phones and identity cards while threatening journalists for filming the incidents at the scene, witnesses said.

Another group of protesters on Thursday chanted “Naraye Takbeer, Allahu Akbar” or, “Allah is Great, Shout of Allah is Great” as they marched through streets in the area where the