We condemn violence in the street

No, that was not to be. They were apparently angered by police resistance, but who can condone the fact that the most vicious and overwhelming part of their wrath fell on the people at large, commuters and passersby on their daily routine. Fifty private and public vehicles were smashed as panic spread and traffic across a large part of the city came to a dead stop. Parents and guardians were stranded with their school-going children, those needing immediate medical attention found themselves at sea and many people had to walk long distances -- the acute hardship was as unprecedented as the state of anarchy and chaos.

A line must be drawn here and now between political protest and vandalism which is totally repugnant to the feelings and sentiments of their compatriots.

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Without going into the argument of who did what to whom, the organisers and patrons of all such political protest marches must realise that incidents like these are not helping their cause; on the contrary, these may completely defeat the very objective by creating a mistrust between the parties involved and the public at large. The country is already passing through one of its most difficult periods of existence, and to this downhill trend we are now adding the scourge of resolving rightful public grievances through senseless vandalism.

The onus is on the party leaders to rein in the rabid form of violent activism among their following. They must begin by admonishing the perpetrators.

A word about the students of Dhaka University reacting to the accident one of their fellow students had met with. We are in sympathy with the victim. But given their prestige as students of the premier university of the country which is supposed to set examples to other institutions, was the vehicle bashing spree any befitting conduct on their part? Was it dignified? Things to ponder for them.