Engineering students attempt March to Jamuna, police fire sound grenades
Engineering students, who have been staging protests with a three-point demand for the last two days, attempted to march towards the chief adviser’s residence at Jamuna on Wednesday afternoon.
A scuffle broke out between police and the students, during which the law enforcement agency members fired sound grenades. Police also used water cannons and charged baton on protesting students. Chases also took places between police and students. At one stage, students were dispersed.
The incident occurred around 1:30 pm today.
Prior to this, students occupied the Shahbagh intersection at around 11:00 am as part of their pre-announced ‘Long March to Dhaka’ programme, bringing traffic in Shahbagh and surrounding roads to a halt.
Later, the demonstrators began marching towards Jamuna around 1:30pm and tried to pass the Hotel Intercontinental crossing.
Police blocked their advance, leading to a confrontation. At one stage, police fired sound grenades, after which the students pulled back instead of proceeding further towards Jamuna.
The incidents left several students and police members injured.
Naim Mirza, a student of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, sustained injuries in the incidents. He told Prothom Alo, “I was in the front row of the procession. All of a sudden, something hit my left leg with a bang.”
Students blockaded Shahbagh for five hours yesterday, Tuesday, pressing the same demands.
Among their demands are: diploma engineers should not be allowed to use the title engineer before their names; no diploma engineer should be promoted to the 9th grade; and graduate engineers should be given opportunities for entry-level positions in the 10th grade.
Masud Alam, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Ramna Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told journalists that discussions were underway with the students regarding a solution. Three advisers at the Secretariat were working on the matter. The students were told to stay at Shahbagh and that their problems would be resolved within half an hour. The student leaders of the movement had also agreed to wait until 3:00 pm.
However, during the discussions, the students suddenly started marching toward Jamuna. They tried to break through police barricades to move toward Jamuna. At that point, they were dispersed. Bricks and stones were thrown at the police, leaving several officers injured in the incident, he added.