5 May Hefazat-e-Islam organized a protest on 5 May demanding a trial of "atheist bloggers", and new legislation for the punishment for
blasphemy. At about 3:00 pm, while Hefazat leaders were delivering speeches, the Secretary General of the
Awami League,
Sayed Ashraful Islam, demanded, via press conference, that they leave
Dhaka. Hefazat claimed that their workers were unarmed and had come under attack by police and
Bangladesh Chhatra League activists at
Gulistan, Purana Paltan and
Baitul Mukarram, and in front of the Communist Party offices. They violently attacked others in front of the
Awami League headquarter at
Paltan,
Dhaka, and allegedly set fire to a number of book stores near the
Baitul Mukarram mosque.
6 May By nightfall, many of the demonstrators had left the city, but about 50,000- 70,000 still remained in
Shapla Square. Hefazat members held prayers at the square and were addressed by their leaders. At around 2.15 am on 6 May, security forces cut power to the area. At 2:30 a.m. about 5000 members of the security forces launched "Operation Shapla", or "Operation Flash Out", to remove them. The forces included members of the
Bangladesh Police,
RAB, and
BGB. At first they used megaphones, asking the protesters to leave the area peacefully. Then, moving in from three directions via Dainik Bangla, Fakirapool and
Bangladesh Bank intersection, security forces used
tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades to disperse the demonstrators. Most fled the area, but others hid in side streets and buildings, where they were shot down by security forces. Hefazat alleges that the bodies were then picked up by
garbage trucks and dumped outside the city. Ahmad Shafi was escorted away from a madrassa in Dhaka and flown to
Chittagong. Police insisted he was not arrested but was leaving voluntarily. On the following morning, the protests spread across the country. In
Narayanganj, students and teachers of a local madrasa held protests and blockaded the
Dhaka-Chittagong highway. In return,
police fired on the protesters, killing 27. In
Hathazari Upazila, six people were shot dead by police, while in
Bagerhat, a Hefazat member died in a clash between protesters and police. ==Casualties==