Locals from all walks of life and leaders and workers of Awami League and its front organisations took to the streets at around 5:30pm and stood hand in hand for an hour in a 1.5 kilometre line stretching from the south end of Khilgaon flyover to the Mugda stadium.

"I've joined the demonstration spontaneously to protest the killing of Sumon, an innocent man, in Rab custody," said Rafiqul Islam, who has come from Mymensingh to visit his brother at Sabujbagh.

He was standing beside some demonstrators holding a banner, which read 'We want justice for Sumon's killing -- locals'.

Sumon was gunned down early Tuesday during what Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) claimed was an encounter between one of its crime-busting team and a gang at the Banasree Project in Rampura. But witnesses and sources said the crack police force arrested him in Goran at 9:00pm on Monday and killed him later in custody.

Sumon, whom the Rab branded as a notorious criminal, was the acting joint convenor of Dhaka City ward 25 unit of Jubo League, the youth front of the main opposition AL.

But no crime link of the slain youth has been found. Sources said Jubo League leader Sumon is not the 'Goaliya Sumon' the Rab was hunting. Three criminal cases are pending against 'Goaliya Sumon with Sabujbagh Police Station.

The demonstrators yesterday also decried the killing of Ameer Hossain, a CNG-run autorickshaw driver, in a fiendish arson at Khilgaon during the hartal hours on May 21 last. He succumbed to his severe burns four days later at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on May 25.

"I think Ameer was the victim of a macabre plot of the ruling BNP, as no incident of torching vehicles has ever been carried out by AL activists at Khilgaon," said Abdul Kader Sarder, an AL adherent from the area, standing in the human chain.

After the incident on the same day, a leader of pro-BNP Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal filed a case with the local police station, accusing eight local Jubo League workers. But a number of discrepancies surfaced later between the plaintiff's statement and that of the victim, Ameer Hossain.

The demonstrators yesterday also condemned the government and the police for barring AL Organising Secretary and former lawmaker of the area Saber Hossain Chowdhury from taking part in the Namaj-e-Janaza of the cabdriver.