Tension continued to grip the capital’s Dhanmondi-32 area on Monday as clashes between law enforcers and a group of youths persisted since noon.
As of 5:30pm, sporadic chase-and-counter-chase incidents were still underway.
The youths, who identified themselves as “July Fighters,” attempted to storm the Dhanmondi-32 residence of late president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence, around 12:30pm using two bulldozers.
The attempt came amid the verdict in a case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over alleged crimes against humanity during last year’s July Uprising.
The group had started from the Dhaka College area at around 12pm, moving toward Dhanmondi-32 with the bulldozers and gathering on the eastern end of the road (towards Mirpur Road).
When they tried to breach a police barricade around 1pm, police and army personnel jointly moved in to disperse them, forcing the group to retreat.
Moments later, the activists regrouped at the Panthapath intersection and began throwing bricks at security forces, injuring two policemen.
To bring the situation under control, police fired sound grenades to disperse the crowd.
Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in a case filed over crimes against humanity committed during last year’s July-August mass uprising.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder handed down the judgement.
Besides, former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who testified as a state witness in the case, was sentenced to five years in prison.