Quota movement: Cops leave spot before ‘BCL men’ arrive to attack at Shaheed Minar

 July 02, 2018

Quota movement: Cops leave spot before ‘BCL men’ arrive to attack at Shaheed Minar

Star Online Report

On duty police members were seen leaving the spot just before the attack on the quota reform movementactivists allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) members at Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka today.

When asked reason for their leaving by the journalists who were present that time, they said that they will let them know later.

Five students demanding civil service quota reforms were injured in the attack which continued for the third consecutive day today.

Witnesses claimed that the BCL men also forcibly picked up two leaders of Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Adhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad, from the campus of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar universities.

BCL men attack quota reformists

Attack on quota reformists allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) members on Central Shaheed Minar premises in Dhaka on July 2, 2018. Photo: Star/ Rashed Sumon

“After sensing complicacies, we left the spot so that any unwarranted conflict with the students does not take place,” Sub-Inspector Shahed, one of the police officials on duty, later told The Daily Star over phone around 1:00pm.

“Whenever any trouble occurs in the university campus, we normally inform the university authorities and our higher officials,” he said.

“There are many restrictions for us inside the university campus,” the police official said adding, “I informed the university administration and high officials of police about the incident.”

However, asked about these “incidents of violence” on the campus, DU Proctor Dr AKM Golam Rabbani told reporters that the proctorial body was not aware of any such incidents.

Earlier, some 10 to 15 BCL activists allegedly swooped on the students when they gathered on the Central Shaheed Minar premises to form a human chain around 10:50am demanding quota reforms in the civil service.