Kolkata, Mar 3 (IANS): Patriotic songs and thought-provoking poems filled the air as singers, elocutionists and intellectuals joined hands with common people Saturday to pay tributes and show solidarity to the Shahbag movement in Bangladesh.

Among the eminent personalities present were singer turned politician Kabir Suman, Bengali band Sahar's lead singer Anindya, Kalika Prasad of Bangla folk band Dohar, author Abul Bashar and others.

With "Mukti Juddher Gaan" (songs of the Bangladesh Liberation War) and the Amar Bhaiyer rokte Ranagano ekushe February- the "anthem" of the Bengali Language Movement, interspersed with video clips and pictures of the protestors, the venue virtually turned into Dhaka's Shahbag where protestors have been demanding death for the war criminals singing, reciting and staging dramas.

The Shahbag area -- the epicentre of the protests -- has been now christened as "Projonmo Chottor" (Generation Circle).

The atmosphere turned sombre as Suman rendered "Teen Minute" (three minutes)- which he has composed in honour of the movement.

Elocutionists Jagannath Basu and Urmimala Basu recited Bengali poems as the audience turned emotional, listening to words penned during the Bangladesh Liberation War to evoke patriotism.

Hailing the protestors, Bashar said the boundary between people of the two Bengals (West Bengal and Bangladesh) has disappeared and "Bengalis here are with them as much with as their own countrymen".