Polytechnic students call off blockade, sit-in to continue

Students from public and private technical institutes, including Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, have called off their blockade at the Satrasta intersection in the capital’s Tejgaon area, which helps resume the traffic in the area.

The protesting students, however, will continue their sit-in programme.

The students started their demonstrations around 11:15 am on Wednesday blocking the road at the Satrastra intersection to press home their four demands.

The closure of the Satrasta intersection halted vehicular movement, creating severe congestion on surrounding roads and causing significant disruption and hardship for commuters. By around 2pm, the students lifted the blockade.

The protesting students under the banner of ‘Karigari Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh (Bangladesh Technical Students’ Movement) said they have temporarily lifted the roadblock.

However, they will continue to take position at Satrastha, and traffic will be allowed through the empty parts of the road.

The protesting students' four demands are: that those who publicly threatened to kill diploma engineers, as raised by the Engineering Rights Movement, be punished to the fullest extent of the law; that all state-enabled activities conducted in support of the BSc engineering students’ three unreasonable demands be halted immediately; that the Technical Students’ Movement’s six-point demand framework and its recommendations be implemented in full; the introduction of a single-channel engineering education system.

Karigari Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh president Md Mashfik Islam said that teachers are also showing solidarity with the students’ protest. Teachers from four technical institutions, including Dhaka Polytechnic Institute and Dhaka Women’s Polytechnic Institute, expressed their solidarity to today’s demonstration.