Hundreds of students injured in BCL clash with quota reform agitators
Hundreds of students injured in BCL clash with quota reform agitators.
Hundreds of students were injured in the attack of the Chhatra League on quota reform agitators of Dhaka University. They were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
A photojournalist of Daily Janakantha is also among the injured.
Amid Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s speech, the quota reform agitators and the Chhatra League announced a counter-programme at the foot of the Raju sculpture on Monday afternoon.
At one point a clash broke out between the two sides and later the BCL beat and dispersed the anti-quota activists.
There was tension in the Dhaka University campus since morning around the counter-programme. The quota reform activists started gathering at the foot of the Raju sculpture after 12:30 PM for the protest rally.
Chhatra League announced to hold a rally at the same place at 3 pm, but as the anti-quota activists occupied the place, the leaders and activists of the pro-government organization gathered at Madhur canteen.
Meanwhile, stone pelting started between the two sides near Vijay Attar Hall and Masterda Surya Sen Hall of the University around 3:30 PM.
After that, a part of the agitators took a stand in the mall area with sticks. On the other hand, BCL workers took position inside Madhur Canteen, Vijay Ekatar and Surya Sen Hall.
At around 4:30 PM, Madhur came out of the canteen and various halls and chased the agitators from the Chhatra League workers’ mall premises to the VC premises and started beating them.
In the face of the attack, the quota agitators dispersed and left the campus through different parts of the campus. On the other hand, Chhatra League workers occupied various parts of the campus including the VC square with sticks.
Dhaka University Chhatra League President Mazharul Kabir Sayan told reporters that they have incited our leaders and activists. We gave a very toothless response. Today we kicked them out of the campus in 5 minutes. We will tell ordinary students, you should withdraw from the movement. If you remove 20 percent, the remaining 80 percent will be seen as political activists. We know how to deal with political activists.
When asked about the attack on the students, Shayan said, they are not ordinary students, they are workers of BNP’s Ishrak (BNP international affairs committee member Ishrak Hossain). You media have gone blind. 10 to 20 percent of general students in this movement. The remaining 80 percent are Shibir-Chatradal activists.
According to Mazharul Kabir Shayan, three to four BCL leaders were injured during the clash.
The students have been protesting continuously for two weeks in response to the High Court’s declaration of invalidity of the circular issued in 2018 canceling the quota in the first and second class of government jobs. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made it clear in a press conference on Sunday that the issue of quota in government jobs will have to be decided by the court.
