The demonstration against rising murders and abductions of businessmen, corruption, hartals and political strife succeeded a wave of demonstrations including strikes by businesses in the past few days against the murders of two Old Dhaka fabrics traders -- a father and son -- the latest of 54 businessmen killed in a year.

Even as they were protesting, gunmen sprayed a security van with bullets in Chittagong, wounding five people before fleeing with Tk 56 lakh.

Representatives of over 250 business organisations carried the banner proclaiming a long list of demands including a stop to harbouring criminals by political parties, harassment of businesspeople and bureaucratic corruption and 'guarantee of natural death' from Dainik Bangla Crossing to Shapla Chattar (roundabout) in the commercial hub of Motijheel.

Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity (BDMS), which claims to represent 22 lakh traders, in collaboration with Dhaka Metropolitan Dokan Malik Samity organised the demonstration from 12:00 noon to 12:30pm.

Crime, especially killings, extortion and abductions of businesspeople, has turned into an explosive political issue in recent times.

"We urge both leading political parties to stop harbouring criminals regardless of their party strings," Amir Hossain Khan, BDMS chairman, told journalists on the sidelines of the human chain.

"We just want to run our businesses in peace, we do not want to protest against a specific political party," Amir added. "The government has to know that we are protesting the crimes against businesspeople, if they do not take that into account, then we will have to intensify the protests."

Tearing politicians to shreds for interfering with the protests of businessmen to reap political benefit, Amir said: "Politicians have tried to suppress protests of businesspeople or foment anger among them only to capitalise on their misery ... we ask them to stop this for the sake of our businesses."

"The criminals belong to one leading political party or another, this has to stop," said MA Zaman Monju, senior vice-chairman of BDMS.

"If the politicians do not shelter the criminals even the first time they commit a crime, criminals cannot go on and commit another hundred crimes," added Amir.

"Even the judiciary is involved in releasing criminals as early as possible under political patronage, so there is also a need to establish an independent judiciary," said Helal Uddin Helal, chairman of Dhaka Metropolitan Dokan Malik Samity.

"We're not into politics … we just want to do business peacefully without fear of extortionists or other criminals," said Mahbub Hasan, a trader of Sutrapur.

The leaders said they held talks with the home ministry and the mayor to ensure a secure environment for businesspeople by installing close-circuit cameras in crime zones in commercial areas and caller ID in all business phones to detect callers and phone numbers.

Abdul Awal Mintoo, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) chairman, also expressed solidarity with the agitating businesspeople and joined the human chain.

Thousands of traders gathered in Sadarghat to attend a milad mahfil to mourn Old Dhaka businessman Shamsul Haq and his son Russell Sheikh. Leaders of all 42 organisations from Sadarghat commercial area later convened a meeting to discuss future strategies.