Five students shot as their procession faces Jubo League attacks

At least five students have sustained bullet wounds as the Jubo League men have attacked the student procession in Cumilla. 

The attacks were carried out in the city’s Racecourse area around 1:15 pm on Saturday. At least 27 people, including the five students, sustained injuries in the attacks and subsequent clashes. 

According to students and witnesses, under the demonstration programme announced by the Students Against Discrimination, the protesting students brought out a procession from the Cumilla Zilla School and were marching towards the police lines area. 

When the procession reached the Racecourse area, leaders and activists of Jubo League and Swechasebak League chased the students. At this point, at least 20 gunshots were fired and 20 people suffered injuries. 

Five students, who sustained bullet wounds, were seen being taken to the Cumilla Medical College Hospital by the fellow protesters. 

Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, director of the hospital, said five injured people were taken to the hospital and they are now under treatment. He could not confirm if they were hit by bullets. 

Meanwhile, a coordinator of the student movement, Jannatul Eva, said she came to know about a significant number of injuries. She condemned the attacks on their programmes. 

Meanwhile, the demonstrators set fire to the vehicle of the Chandina upazila assistant commissioner (land). 

Soumya Sarker, the assistant commissioner, said they were returning after calming down the protesting students in the Chandina area of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. 

“The upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and I were in the vehicle. All of a sudden, the aggrieved people set fire to my car and we managed to leave it promptly,” he added.