Demonstrators lift blockade at Shahbagh after 1 hr

The students and job aspirants, who have been waging a movement seeking reforms in quota for direct recruitment in government jobs, lifted the blockade they enforced at the Shahbagh intersection in the city Friday evening to press home their demand.

The agitators lifted the blockade after one hour of demonstrations at the vital intersection of the city from around 5:30 pm as part of their “Bangla Blockade” programme.

The movement of vehicles became normal afterwards.

The demonstrators said that the next programme will be announced at 6:00 pm Saturday after a meeting with representatives of all universities and districts.

Earlier today, the demonstrators blocked Shahbagh intersection at 5.20 pm under the banner of “anti-discriminatory student movement” to protest the attack on the “Bangla Blockade” programme, carried out in different parts of the country along with a one-point demand to end the quota discrimination.

The protestors called a procession and rally protesting Friday against the attacks on their “Bangla Blockade” programmes in different parts of the country and its trial.

But they moved to block the Shahbagh intersection from the protest rally on Dhaka University campus.

The protestors chanted various slogans and gave speeches on the Shahbagh intersection.

Around 5:45 pm, the students of Dhaka College came to Shahbagh with a procession.

Movement of all types of traffic through Shahbagh intersection stopped and a severe traffic jam was created due to the blockade.

The students, however, made way for the ambulance and emergency vehicles to move.

Around 6:20 pm, Dhaka University student Abu Baker Majumdar, one of the coordinators of the “anti-discriminatory student movement”, announced the next programme.

“We will have an online and offline representative meeting tomorrow (Saturday) in all universities and districts. Then we will hold a press conference in front of Dhaka University central library at 6:00 pm to announce our next programmes. The government must take into account our one-point demand,” he said.

Before Abu Baker, “anti-discriminatory student movement” coordinators Abdul Kader and Mahin Sarkar also gave speeches at the brief rally.

A section of the protesters from the blockade at Shahbagh ran along the road towards the TSC of Dhaka University around 5:50 pm.

Following them, this correspondent found that the students were beating up a young man at the gates of the university’s Fine Arts faculty.

The agitating students did not allow this correspondent to take photos of the incident.

When asked, several protestors told Prothom Alo that the young man was riding a motorcycle recklessly despite the blockade at the Shahbagh intersection.

They further alleged that the youth misbehaved with the demonstrators.

Neither Prothom Alo could know the youth’s name nor talk to him.