Indigenous people block Shahbagh, protest Khagrachhari arson attacks

Several hundred people of indigenous communities and students blocked the capital’s Shahbagh intersection and staged a demonstration today protesting the arson attacks in Khagrachhari’s Dighinala upazila yesterday.
The protesters blocked the busy intersection for around half an hour as per their previous announcement, our DU correspondent reports.
Before the blockade, they organised a rally at Raju Memorial Sculpture on Dhaka University campus around 10:00am and demanded punishment for the attackers on the indigenous people in Khagrachhari yesterday.
They held up placards with messages such as “Save the hills and our culture”, “Stop land grabbing”, “Stop militarisation in CHT”, “Implement the CHT”.
They urged for an international investigation into all previous incidents that constituted violations of human rights of people of the ethnic minorities in Chattogram Hill Tracts.
According to media reports, at least 30 houses and business establishments belonging to indigenous people came under arson attacks yesterday.
During the rally at the base of Raju Memorial Sculpture, Bangladesh Adivashi Chhatra Sangram Parishad President Alik Mree said, “Mafias in hilly areas opened fire on unarmed people, which is contradictory to the aspirations of the July mass uprising. This force is paid by state tax money. But they attacked ethnic minorities.”
Some other speakers said, “We do not believe in separatism … those involved in the attacks must be brought to book. Otherwise, people in the hills know better how to assert their rights. Just as the people of this country have overthrown the dictatorship of Sheikh Hasina, the dictatorship will be overthrown from the hills.”