Anti-quota movement: Protesters block Shahbagh, InterContinental hotel intersections
Anti-quota demonstrators have blocked Shahbagh intersection, as well as the InterContinental hotel intersection, as part of their ‘Bangla Blockade’ movement to press home 4-point demand, including reinstatement of a government circular that abolished quota system in government jobs in 2018.
The protesters, under the banner of ‘anti-discrimination student movement’, brought out the procession in front of Dhaka University central library at 3:32 pm.
The procession paraded through different streets and blocked Shahbagh intersection at around 3:45 pm, halting traffic movement through the vital intersection of the city.
The blockade created huge traffic congestion in the area.
After a while, a section of demonstrators also laid siege to InterContinental hotel intersection, ensuring that the vehicles cannot use this alternative route too.
Also, some protesters blocked Chankharpul intersection in the afternoon, halting traffic movement. This blockade has created severe traffic jams on Mayor Hanif Flyover. Meanwhile, the students of Dhaka College laid siege to Science Lab, another important intersection of the city, at around 1:45 pm.
Earlier, the students started gathering on DU central library premises at around 2:30 pm. Students from different residential halls and departments joined the procession in droves, turning the gathering into a human sea by 3:00 pm.
The anti-quota protesters boycotted classes and examinations at DU and other universities and colleges across the country today, Sunday. The demonstrators also imposed blockades on different intersections of the city and elsewhere in the country.
Apart from the reinstatement of the circular, the protestors are also pressing for more demands.
Those include formation of commission to omit irrational and discriminatory quotas in all grades of government jobs subjected to the reinstatement of the 2018 circular, considering the backward community as per the constitution, closing down the scopes to use the quota facility for more than once, filling up the empty posts reserved for quota on the basis of merit and taking effective measures to ensure a corruption-free, neutral and merit-based bureaucracy.