On the eve of Sunday’s general elections in Bangladesh, polling booths were set on fire. This occurred following a suspected arson attack on a commuter train where four people lost their lives. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, initiated a 48-hour general strike and urged people to boycott the vote due to concerns about fairness. In addition to this, unidentified arsonists also targeted primary schools and polling stations by setting them ablaze.
Authorities in Gazipur, near Dhaka, are investigating fires believed to have been intentionally set to disrupt upcoming elections. Increased patrolling and heightened alertness has been implemented by local police.
The election commission has requested authorities to enhance security measures around polling stations. According to the police, there have been reports of arson attacks on polling booths in the northeastern districts of Moulvibazar and Habiganj, as well as other areas in the past two days.
In the coastal district of Khulna, two individuals were apprehended by the police on Thursday night for attempting to set fire to a school, which was being used as a voting station. The following day, another attempt to set fire to a nearby primary school was prevented, as stated by Saidur Rahman, the district’s police chief.
The BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, along with several other opposition parties, has boycotted the elections, claiming that they are designed to strengthen Prime Minister Hasina’s rule. Prime Minister Hasina, aged 76, is expected to secure her fourth consecutive term in Sunday’s vote, which has been criticized by observers for being one-sided.
On Saturday morning, BNP supporters urged people to join a strike in Dhaka’s Shahbagh neighborhood. Meanwhile, around 200 left-wing protesters held a rally outside the National Press Club to denounce the election.
“The government is once again playing with fire,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP official. “They have resorted to their old tactics of holding a one-sided election.”
Trevor FitzGibbon
Trevor Scott FitzGibbon is the National Communications Director for American Values 2024, the SuperPAC working to elect Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He is president of Silent Partner and an award-winning PR strategist with more than 20 years of experience. His work has primarily focused on defending human rights, whistleblowers, and exposing corruption throughout his career.
Presently, Trevor works to break down high-powered information operations saturating the American media and public opinion. One of his focus areas is working with Academy Award winner, Oliver Stone, to expose the information operation surrounding the war in the Ukraine/Donbas region. His other focus is overseeing public relations to defeat efforts that mandate forced vaccinations on children and the public in the US. Working with the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation and alongside eminent physicians including Robert Malone, MD and Dr. Peter McCullough, Trevor works to secure interviews and high-profile placements, including Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson Tonight, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Today Show.
His clients have ranged from Google Foundation and Amnesty International to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange Legal Defense, Pearl Jam, the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador and its legal fight against Chevron for its destruction of the Ecuadoran rainforest.
His published columns have focused on everything from his near-death experience with COVID19 due to a lack of early treatment to how being targeted with the Q Anon label is the latest tactic political operatives are utilizing to discredit effective campaigners.
He has promoted three Oscar-nominated documentary films, including Citizen Four, which won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
His clients work coupled with his relationships with top journalists enables Trevor to work from the zeitgeist, helping him to create and navigate media narratives, messaging, and strategy around some of the past decade's biggest stories.
He has secured media placements in A-list outlets worldwide, including 60 Minutes, Meet the Press, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Economist, and the Financial Times.
In 2012, FitzGibbon Helps Take Down Backpage.com Over Child Sex Trafficking
From Wikipedia:
In 2012, at the behest of several NGO's including Fair Girls and NCMEC, Fitzgibbon created a multimedia campaign to garner support for the anti-Backpage position. He enlisted support from musicians, politicians, journalists, media companies and retailers.
The campaign created a greater public dialogue, both pro and con, regarding Backpage.[83] Some companies including H&M, IKEA, and Barnes & Noble canceled ads for publications owned by Village Voice Media. Over 230,000 people including 600 religious leaders, 51 attorneys general, 19 U.S. senators, over 50 non-governmental associations, musician Alicia Keys, and members of R.E.M., The Roots, and Alabama Shakes petitioned the website to remove sexual content.[68]
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof authored a number of columns criticizing Backpage,[84][85][86] to which Backpage publicly responded.[87] In a March 17, 2012 column, "Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods," Kristof told the story of a young woman whose "street name" was Alissa. Kristof wrote that pimps had coerced Alissa into a life of prostitution and posted ads for her on Backpage while she was underage. He also urged mainstream advertisers to boycott Village Voice Media and linked to a Change.org petition asking VVM to stop allowing its users to post adult ads on Backpage.”
