GOPALGANJ — Police in Bangladesh’s Gopalganj district have arrested the organizer of a concert after members of the audience chanted slogans in support of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The concert was held Monday night at Gopalganj Municipal Park to mark the opening of FNF Convention Hall and Party Center, owned by Hafizur Rahman Pial. Singer Mainul Ahsan Nobel performed at the event.
Police said the organizers did not have permission to hold the concert. Before the performance began, a section of the audience started chanting slogans invoking Hasina. Organizers repeatedly asked them to stop and said the event was not political, according to police.
The concert was stopped at about 9:30 p.m.
Police detained Pial later that night for questioning. On Tuesday, he was shown arrested in connection with a previously filed case under Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Act and was subsequently sent to Gopalganj District Jail on a court order.
Pial is the treasurer of the Awami League’s Tungipara upazila unit and the son of Khalid Hossain Jamadar, a former chairman of Barni Union.
Gopalganj Superintendent of Police Habibullah said authorities had not granted permission for the concert because of concerns that activists of a banned organization might gather at the venue.
He said members of the organization subsequently gathered and chanted slogans, leading to Pial’s arrest.
The police account did not indicate that Pial personally led or participated in the slogans. The report also did not provide details of the earlier anti-terrorism case in which he was arrested.
The incident comes amid heightened political tensions in Bangladesh surrounding the Awami League and its former leader Sheikh Hasina.
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