Stall by Taslima Nasreen's publisher at Bangladesh book fair vandalised. Author says...

A group of madrasa students attacked a stall at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka, expressing anger over the display of a book by Taslima Nasreen. The incident occurred at the Sabyasachi Publication stall, which is responsible for publishing works by Nasreen, who currently lives in exile in India.

Eyewitnesses reported that the agitators questioned the presence of Nasreen's book at the stall before attacking the publisher, Shatabdi Bhava, and discarding the book.

Following the attack, police intervened to restore order by detaining both the publisher and the agitators. The situation was controlled after their removal from the scene. Taslima Nasreen described the attackers as "jihadist religious extremists" and criticised their actions.

She said in a post on X (formerly Twitter): "Today, jihadist religious extremists attacked the stall of the publisher Sabyasachi at Bangladesh's book fair. Their 'crime' was publishing my book."  Nasreen further alleged that both the book fair authorities and local police had instructed the removal of her book prior to the attack.

Despite its removal, the stall was vandalised and shut down. "The book fair authorities and the police from the local station ordered the removal of my book. Even after it was removed, the extremists attacked, vandalised the stall, and shut it down," she added.

Nasreen accused the government of backing such extremist activities, which she claims are spreading across Bangladesh. Police Official Masud Alam confirmed additional forces were deployed following reports of unrest at the fair.

"Additional police were sent after receiving information about the disturbance at the book fair. The panic was there due to tensions between some students of the Qaumi Madrasa and the publisher of Sabyasachi Prokashoni," he said.

Alam also mentioned that both parties were taken to the police station as authorities sought to understand the cause of the tensions. "We brought both parties to the police station. We are trying to find out the reason of the tensions. The situation is completely under control," he added. 

The Amar Ekushey Book Fair, one of the largest in South Asia, is held annually in February to honour those who died in 1952 advocating for Bangla as the state language. Organised by the Bangla Academy, it takes place at the Bangla Academy courtyard and Suhrawardy Udyan.