Protesting eviction from a settlement at Mironzilla colony in the capital’s Bangshal area before the arrangement of alternative shelter, Harijan community people staged a demonstration at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city on Thursday.

Several hundred people of different age groups attended the demonstration and marched to the Prime Minister's Office to submit a memorandum, but were stopped by police.

Speakers at the rally said that the majority of Harijan people are street cleaners, and they are not rented houses by locals. They have been living in Mironzilla for 400 years but now there is an attempt to evict them. They demanded that the eviction be stopped without rehabilitation.

The speakers also said that the property of the government is the property of the people. Harijan community residents cannot be evicted without ensuring their rights.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh Ruhin Hossain Prince, President of Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad Professor Nimchandra Bhowmik, Member of the Praesidium Kajal Debnath, and General Secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Parishad Suman Kumar Roy, among others, spoke at the programme.

Two platforms of the community, Jubo Oikya Parishad and Chhatra Oikya Parishad, organised the meeting.

According to the Estate Department of Dhaka South City Corporation, the corporation has about 3.27 acres of land in Mironzilla Sweeper Colony. DSCC plans to build a modern kitchen market on 27 decimal lands beside the colony.

Now, DSCC needs to demolish some houses as they were extending the market, which is on 17 decimal lands. DSCC conducted a mobile court to vacate the land recently.

DSCC officials say that among those living in Mironzilla Colony, who are employees of the City Corporation, they have been allotted houses in the new building.

However, the residents of the Harijan community say that more than 400 families have been living there. Only 60-70 families have been given allotments in the new building.