A reception marking July Mass Uprising Day in Gaibandha was disrupted on 5 August after objections were raised to the presence of two local National Citizen Party (NCP) leaders.
The district administration organised the event at the indoor facility of the district mini stadium for families of those killed in July, injured July fighters and other participants.
NCP Gaibandha convenor Khademul Islam Khudi and member secretary Rahat attended the programme.
A section of injured July fighters and students called on the two leaders to leave and chanted slogans boycotting the NCP.
Arguments and jostling followed inside the hall.
Police and organisers intervened to restore order, while District Commissioner Masudar Rahman Molla used a microphone to ask those present to sit down.
Shariful Islam Akash, a joint convenor of the local Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and an injured July fighter, said the situation worsened after some leaders of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti sided with Khudi and Rahat.
Akash alleged that the protest was driven by objections to people he said had been associated with Awami League politics holding positions in the NCP’s district committee.
Protesters also alleged that Khudi had previously been active in Gaibandha politics linked to JASAD’s Jubo Jote and to Awami League-aligned politics.
Khudi said he and Rahat had attended at the district administration’s invitation, stayed briefly because they had another programme, and had no argument or conflict with anyone.
He said the tension instead stemmed from an argument between Akash and some Chhatra Shakti leaders over a post in the organisation, and denied that he or Rahat were involved.
Khudi said he did not understand the basis for the boycott slogans and maintained that there was no justification for targeting the NCP or the two leaders personally.