Desh Natak theater troupe’s play ‘Nityopuran’ was stopped midway yesterday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka after a group of people staged a protest outside the academy gate.

Describing the incident in a virtual press conference today (November 3), Shilpakala Academy Managing Director Syed Jamil Ahmed said the decision to stop the play midway was taken to ensure “public safety”.

The incident sparked strong criticism on social media.

Shilpakala’s chief executive explained that given the circumstances, he feared the academy itself could become a “target of attack”.

“Recently, 22 branches of Shilpakala Academy across the country were attacked. This weighed on my mind. With the audience inside the hall, I wondered: what if the protesters attacked them “Considering the safety and security of the audience, we decided to stop the show midway, came in and apologized to the audience,” he said.

Eyewitnesses present at the time said around 6pm yesterday that a group of people started protesting outside the Shilpakala gates, calling Desh Natak’s Ehshanul Aziz Babu an “accomplice of the Awami League”.

Later, Jamil Ahmed went to calm the protesters and the play resumed later.

But the demonstrators regrouped in front of the gate and began to protest again.

Narrating the incident, Jamil said, “I explained to them that more than 200 Desh Natak members actively participated in the July-August mass uprising. Some were also shot.

“At first they agreed (to what I said) and the play resumed. But later they started protesting again… Some people climbed the wall and entered. When the door was broken, we decided to stop the play completely after talking to the Natak members.”

Earlier on October 17, Ehshanul Aziz Babu of Desh Natak shared a post on Facebook saying, “Come together to save the country. Let’s sing Joy Bangla and confront these anti-Bangladesh and anti-independence Razakars.

He attached a photoshopped photo depicting some advisors of the caretaker government wearing Jinnah caps, calling them “Razakars”.

That message sparked protests, leading to the play being shut down, according to executive director Jamil.

“The post was in bad taste. I told this to Babu. I told them all not to post such posts on Facebook, but rather criticize the government through their pieces,” he said .