\n An effigy said to resemble ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and titled \"Face of Fascism\" was torched ahead of a celebratory march in Dhaka, authorities said on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The cane-and-paper effigy was part of preparations being made at Dhaka University for Pohela Boishakh, a day symbolically considered as the start of the year by the Bengali community, on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The effigy portrayed a woman with a toothy grin, four horns on her head and a large nose, with many on social media believing it resembled Hasina.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mohammed Azharul Islam Sheikh, dean of the university's fine arts faculty, said it was set on fire by \"unidentified persons\" early on Saturday. A complaint was raised with police and an investigation will be undertaken, he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Bangladesh cultural affairs adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki accused \"friends of Hasina\" of setting fire to it.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Those who have shown such reckless audacity... will be brought to justice,\" he wrote on his Facebook page.\n<\/p>\n
\n Another structure on the site, a dove representing peace, was also damaged in the fire.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fire service and civil defence spokesperson Shahjahan Sikder told reporters that the cause of the fire was unknown.\n<\/p>\n
\n The annual march has been organised by Dhaka University's fine arts department since 1989 and was declared an \"Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity\" by UNESCO in 2016.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hasina is wanted on charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government last August.\n<\/p>\n
\n She has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh after she fled to old ally India as crowds stormed her palace.\n<\/p>\n
\n sa\/ash\/pbt\n<\/p>\n
\n HERITAGE OIL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An effigy said to resemble ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and titled \"Face of Fascism\" was torched ahead of a celebratory march in Dhaka, authorities said on Saturday. The cane-and-paper effigy was part of preparations being made at Dhaka University for Pohela Boishakh, a day symbolically considered as the start of the year by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-144200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n