Normalcy returns after 3hrs; JU, RU, CU, SUST students also protest
An aspirant of Bangladesh Civil Service hurls brick chips in a clash with police in front of the gate of Dhaka University mosque Thursday afternoon.
At least 16 people were injured when several groups of young government job seekers, who were demanding cancellation of quota provisions in public service recruitment, fought pitched battle with police near the Dhaka University campus Thursday.
The clash ensued around 11:00am when the law enforcers tried to clear the busy city point. Police fired several rounds of rubber bullets and shotgun shells, and around 80 rounds of teargas canisters during the two-and-a-half-hour clash with the demonstrators.
Traffic movement at Shahbagh intersection resumed around 2:00pm after police dispersed the protesters.
The agitators, mostly DU students, took shelter inside the DU campus around noon as police swung into action soon after they gathered at Shahbagh intersection in the morning.
They resumed their protest 13 hours after they left the area following announcement by the Public Service Commission that it would review the preliminary test results of 34th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations, the demand that first brought the agitators out on the streets.
Meanwhile, students of Jahangirnagar, Rajshahi and Chittagong universities and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology demonstrated occupying main city thoroughfares to protest the quota system which they say deprive merit.
Our correspondents reported that JU students demonstrated blocking the Dhaka-Aricha highway while the RU students the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway since the morning. The injured were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
SHAHBAGH
A group of about 500 DU students and BCS examinees brought out a procession on the campus before marching towards the Shahbagh intersection as per their previously scheduled agitation programme.
As they attempted to gather for a sit-in at the intersection halting traffic movement, police rushed there.
Chased by cops, the agitators ran towards Central Public Library and Institute of Fine Arts.
They dragged some large bamboo and wooden sculptures made for Pahela Baishakh celebration onto the street and set fire to those.
An armoured personnel carrier rushed in to scare away the demonstrators. Police lobbed around 70 teargas canisters to disperse the marauding demonstrators who vandalised several vehicles around 11:20am.
Chase and counter-chase continued for some time before police pushed them further away towards the DU campus.
Police also rounded up 10 to 15 students from the scene.
A group of students also vandalised some flower tubs and exterior gate lights on the premises of the residence of Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, the vice-chancellor (VC) of the DU, around noon, said Siddiqur Rahman, personnel assistant to the VC.
On the other hand, another section of the demonstrators vandalised the window panes of the proctor’s office at the Arts Building.
They also ransacked the registrar’s office and Sociology Department of the university. On information, law enforcers rushed to the spot and fired around 10 teargas shells to disperse the agitated students.
After the vandalism, Dhaka University Proctor Amjad Ali visited the house of the VC. Talking to newsmen he said some “outsiders are carrying out the vandalism to create anarchy in the country” even though the Bangladesh Public Service Commission on Wednesday announced to reconsider the results of the exams.
During the demonstration, they also vandalised a vehicle of the private television channel ATN Bangla.
Driver Nayon Khan sustained head injuries during the attack. The DU unit leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) meantime chased a group of protesters while they were demonstrating in front of Madhur Canteen.
Later, the stalwarts of BCL, student wing of ruling Awami League, also brought out a procession on the campus chanting anti-Shibir slogans. Islami Chhatra Shibir is the student body of Jamaat-e-Islami. The BCL activists also beat up a few of the demonstrators suspecting them as Shibir men.
JAHANGIRNAGAR UNIVERSITY
The students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) also demonstrated for 45 minutes on Thursday blocking the Dhaka-Aricha highway over the same issue.
Over 1,000 students staged the protest forming a human chain in front of the university’s central gate around 11:00am, halting transport movement on the highway.
At least three JU teachers also joined the agitating students expressing solidarity with them.
The students however left the highway around 11:45pm when police rushed to the spot and urged them to free the road.
Later, the agitators said they will hold a rally on the campus on Thursday and declare the next course of action.
RAJSHAHI
Students of Rajshahi University (RU) also put barricades on the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway for abolishing the quota system in all examination of civil service.
Several hundred students staged sit-ins at three different places on the highway from 11:00am, chanting slogans.
Protesters from the sit-ins declared that they would boycott classes and examinations for an indefinite period from Saturday to press home their demands.
Following the demonstration, vehicular movement came to a halt on the highway, reported our Rajshahi University correspondent.
Additional members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed on the campus and its adjacent areas to avoid any untoward incident.
CHITTAGONG
Students of Chittagong University (CU) also demonstrated forming a human chain in front of the university Shaheed Minar around 11:40am.
They brought out a procession from the registrar building protesting the PSC’s move.
Later, the procession ended at the railway station of the university, reported our Chittagong University correspondent quoting Proctor Md Siraj-ud-Doula.
Additional police forces have been deployed in the area to avoid any untoward incident, said Md Rafiq, a sub-inspector of Hathazari Police Station.
SUST
Around 200 students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) took to Sylhet-Sunamganj highway near the university main entrance around 12:30pm over the same issue.
On information, law enforcers rushed to the scene around 1:00pm and dispersed the agitating students, our Sylhet correspondent reported quoting witnesses.
BACKGROUND
Several hundred students of DU began the demonstration on Wednesday blocking the Shahbagh intersection, demanding that the Bangladesh Public Service Commission cancel the results of the 34th Bangladesh Commission Service preliminary examination published on July 8 and withdraw the quota system the commission uses for appointing civil servants.
The agitating job seekers, however, claimed that despite getting high scores, they had been disqualified in the 34th BCS preliminary exam due to the quotas.
In public service, 30 percent spots are reserved for freedom fighters’ children and grandchildren, 10 percent for women, and 5 percent for people of indigenous communities.
In addition there is a 10 percent quota for job seekers of some districts and 1 percent quota for the physically challenged people.
The commission used to apply these quotas during the interviews the candidates faced after qualifying in the preliminary test and the written test.
However, this year the commission applied the quotas, excluding the district and disability quotas, at the preliminary examination, the first of three major exams before one gets a government job.
At the 34th BCS preliminary exams, only 12,033 job seekers got through to the next stage out of 2,21,575 who sat for the exam.
Source: The Daily Star
