Students of the Jagannath University have called for indefinite strike starting from Tuesday after their procession towards the Prime Minister’s Office, demanding residential halls on the empty space of recently abandoned Dhaka Central Jail, was intercepted by police on Monday morning.
Publishing a statement, Rashedul Islam, Raisul Islam Noyon and Shafiqul Islam announced the strike at around 2 pm.
“Protesting the heinous police attack on us, we’ll observe the strike by not attending class and exams sine die starting from tomorrow,” said Raisul Islam Noyon.
“The strike will continue until the Prime Minister gives any official statement,” he added.
Earlier in the day, police stopped a procession of Jagannath University (JnU) students who were heading towards the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka.
The law enforcers dispersed the students using water cannons and teargas shells in Bangshal area of Dhaka around 9:30am, said Md Ibrahim Khan, deputy commissioner (Lalbagh division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
The incident has left at least 10 injured.
A group of JnU students brought out the procession demanding construction of residential halls for them on the empty space of recently abandoned Dhaka Central Jail.
Students said they arranged the procession with an aim to move towards the Prime Minister’s office for submitting a memorandum.
As the procession was passing Bongshal intersection area around 9.30am, police obstructed them by laying a barricade.
When the students tried to break the police barricade, police fired tear shells which left at least 10 students injured, added the protesting students.
Additional police forces have been deployed in the areas adjacent to the university following the incident.
The students have been demanding residential halls on the former Dhaka Central Jail area since August 2 and boycotted classes and held demonstrations on Thursday, as well as Sunday.
The students had announced the strike during their demonstrations in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Wednesday.
The students announced a procession to the PMO during the demonstration on Sunday.
“We will continue our demonstration until our demands are met”, Imrul Shahid Badhon, one of the agitating students, said.
“If we do not get any assurance from the authorities, we will march towards the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Monday,” Imrul added.
JnU Proctor Prof Nur Mohammad said, “The students’ demand is logical but it is not right to mount public sufferings by blocking roads. Necessary steps will be taken after discussions.”
Then he said, “We want the students to carry on their movement peacefully while continuing the classes and sitting for tests. But they are not listening to us.”
Vehicular movement on the thoroughfares in the neighborhood of JnU was hampered, much to the sufferings of the commuters.
Their protests have led to massive gridlock in areas of Old Dhaka adjacent to the university.
Source: Ittefaq
