Scenes from Shaheed Minar

It was 3:00pm. Students from different public and private universities, colleges, and schools, started arriving in large processions to join the demonstration at Shaheed Minar.
Most of them had identity cards around their necks.
Carrying posters, banners, and placards, and painting their cheeks with red and Bangladesh flags, they joined the protest.
Apart from students, teachers, guardians with children, lawyers, civil society members, freedom fighters, day labourers, and political activists gathered there, braving the rain.
By 4:15pm, every corner of Shaheed Minar was filled to the brim with thousands of protesters.
Apart from the open spaces of the Shaheed Minar, the roads stretching from Doyel Chattar in the east, the entrance of Dhaka Medical College in the west, Jagannath Hall in the south, and the Shibbari intersection in the north were also packed.
The area reverberated with anti-government slogans, mostly calling for the resignation of the prime minister.
The slogans included “Dofa Ek Dabi Ek, Sheikh Hasinar Podotyag,” “Ek Dofa Ek Dabi, Hasina Tui Kobe Jabi,” “Ek Dui Tin Char, Shairachar Nipat Jak,” and “Hasina Tui Shairachar, Ei Muhurte Godi Char.”
Throughout the rally, protesters in groups engaged in graffiti artwork on roads and trees, and were seen writing placards.
Even the rickshaw pullers joined in. They stopped their rickshaws, blocked one side of the road, and shouted slogans calling the Sheikh Hasina-led government to step down immediately.
Talking to The Daily Star, Aziz Miah, a rickshaw puller, said they had been silent for years despite the long-term suppression by the Awami League government.
“Our brothers were killed when they took to the streets. How long will we remain silent? The time is now to raise our voices,” he said.
Some guardians were seen distributing water among the protesters.
Homemaker Ahmed Munira, her husband Rafique Munir, and their six-year-old son Miftah Munir came from Sadarghat to join the protest. They were also distributing water among the protesters.
Talking with the newspaper, Rafique Munir, a confectionary shop owner, said he joined the protest out of responsibility for the state and for his son.
“My wife became ill hearing the news of all the unnecessary bloodshed. She had been crying for the last couple of days while holding my son tight,” he said, adding that as they joined the protest rally, they felt a sense of comfort now.
“The demand is now loud and clear. We do not want anyone in power who killed our children. We want the resignation of the Sheikh Hasina-led government,” he said.