Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bangladesh Friday to pay tribute to those who fell in the fight for independence, and call for prosecution of alleged war criminals. The crowd outside the Savar National Mausoleum on the outskirts of capital Dhaka chanted "Try them, hang them," referring to seven alleged collaborators in the massacre of up to 3 million civilians and rape of 200,000 to 500,000 women during the nine-month conflict.
The Awami League-led coalition government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has been prosecuting suspected war criminals since she assumed office in early 2009, in a case that some observers have called politically motivated. Five of those facing charges are top members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, including its leader and former minister Matiur Rahman Nizami.
The other two are leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. All were detained last year. Friday's ceremonies included separate addresses to the crowd by Wazed, President Muhammad Zillur Rahman and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, as well as a 31-gun dawn salute in the National Parade Square.
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