Angry demonstrators including people who have their relatives' graves in the graveyard also held a protest rally in the graveyard compound after the juma prayers.

The graveyard area was, however, heavily guarded by police and intelligence agencies suspecting trouble since the morning. At one stage, the demonstrators pulled down makeshift living quarters of the labourers and the storage shed for construction materials ignoring the police obstruction. They also brought out protest marches.

Faruk Ahmed, a local resident, said if needed they will sacrifice their lives but they will not let the road to be built. The demonstrators also urged the people to bring shovels and spades with them the next Friday to demolish the pillars of the under-construction wall which is supposed to separate the under-construction road from the graveyard rendering the burial ground smaller than before.

About a hundred hooligans, allegedly deployed by lawmaker Pintu at the construction site to ensure building of the controversial road, at first tried to obstruct the demonstrators but later backed out.

At the rally, Golam Mostafa Monu, a local businessman, said the road has been planned to pocket money and not for any good as claimed by the pro-road people. Speakers at the rally also vehemently criticised Pintu for taking up the road project.

Mir Ashraf Ali Azam, a local ward commissioner, told The Daily Star that the mayor already cancelled the road project through the graveyard, so there is no reason for demonstrations. Regarding the demonstrators' demand for restoring the graveyard to its former condition, Azam said they should appeal to the mayor for that.

Last Friday also saw some 3,000 people demonstrating at the graveyard. The protesters at one point chased away a contingent of police and an employee of the construction firm when they attempted to obstruct the demonstrators from demolishing the under-construction structure for the road.

Earlier on June 19, lawmaker Nasiruddin Pintu, whose wife owns Asha Enterprise -- the construction company building the road, denied his association in any way with the construction of the road.

Initially, a 20 feet wide road was supposed to be built but later the width of it was extended to 23 feet. The road would leave no trace of at least 4,000 graves instead of previously thought 200 graves, the demonstrators claimed.

Following the news published by a number of national dailies about the construction of a 1.5 kilometre long road over the graveyard, Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka ordered cancellation of the road construction but the construction firm continued the work under cover of night, alleged the demonstrators.