BUET condemns police attack on protesting engineering students
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has condemned the police baton charge on protesting engineering students.
The condemnation came in a statement issued today, Wednesday, signed by BUET registrar (Additional Duty) NM Golam Zakaria, and later shared with the media by the university authorities.
BUET authorities in the statement noted that students from BUET and other educational institutions have been demonstrating for several days to demand the protection and integration of the rights of BSc (Engineering) graduates in recruitment for the position of assistant engineer or equivalent posts, as well as the elimination of quota-related discrimination in relevant grades.
The statement further said that today, as students from BUET and other educational institutions attempted to march toward the residence of the chief adviser at Jamuna to press home their demands, police fired tear gas shells and sound grenades at them and carried out a baton charge. As a result, many students were seriously injured.
Condemning the police action, the statement said, “Such attacks by the police are completely unacceptable, especially when the issue could have been resolved peacefully.”
The BUET administration expressed deep anger and sorrow over the incident and strongly denounced the assault.
The statement also expressed hope that the government would take prompt action against those responsible for the attack through a proper investigation.
As part of their three-point demand, students yesterday blocked Shahbagh for five hours. Their demands include: Preventing diploma engineers from using the title "Engineer" before their names, not promoting any diploma engineers to Grade 9 positions, and reserving Grade 10 engineering jobs exclusively for graduate engineers.
The students carried out their pre-announced programme titled "Long March to Dhaka." As part of this, around 11:00am, they began gathering on the main road at Shahbagh, causing traffic in and around the area to come to a halt.
Around 1:30pm, the students started marching toward Jamuna, the residence of the Chief Adviser. As they attempted to cross the intersection near the InterContinental Hotel, police intervened. A clash ensued, with both sides chasing each other. Police carried out a baton charge, eventually dispersing the students.
According to the protesting students, 50 to 60 of their fellow demonstrators were injured in the police attack. Police, on the other hand, claimed that students had thrown stones and bricks at officers, injuring several members of the force.