Traffic on Banani-Airport road resumes after 5 hours

Vehicular movement on Banani-Airport road resumed after five hours of blockade since morning as police dispersed the agitators after 4 pm on Monday, news agency UNB reports.

Police swung into action around 3:40 pm as they continued their blockade despite repeated requests by the authorities of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College.

The police chased the students through Shewra Bus stand where the angry students vandalised 8-10 buses.

Earlier, Ummey Kulsum, a teacher of the college, urged the agitators to withdraw their blockade programme as two drivers and two helpers of three buses of 'Jabal-e-NoorParibahan' were arrested by members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).

"The authorities concerned informed us that Jabal-e-Noor won't operate any bus on Mirpur-Uttara road. Besides, a footbridge and a speed-breaker will be set up in front of the college," she told agitating students.

"Student representatives, college Principal, a joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and representatives of Dhaka Cantonment held a joint meeting in this regard. And they assured us of bringing the offenders to justice," Ummey Kulsum added.

Defying her repeated requests, the agitators chanted slogans to continue their protest programme, prompting the police to swing into action and dispersed them, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, the train communications between Dhaka and other parts of the country were suspended for about two hours on Monday as students from different schools and colleges put up a barricade on rail tracks near Dhaka Cantonment, protesting Sunday's accident on Airport Road that left two college students dead.

Mozammel Hossain, stationmaster of Cantonment Railway Station, said the students took position on the rail track near Sheora level-crossing around 1:30 pm, forcing the authorities concerned to suspend the train services from Kamalapur Railway Station.

However, the train communications resumed around 3:20 pm, said officer-in-charge of Kamalapur Railway Station Yasin Faruk.

Earlier in the day, the students staged demonstrations in different parts of the city to protest the death of their two fellows, causing widespread traffic chaos.

Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College, were killed as a bus ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road on Sunday.

Witnesses said several hundred students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College took to the streets around 10:30 am on Monday and put up barricades, disrupting traffic on the busy road.
The unruly students also chanted slogans saying 'We want justice'.

Besides, students of different schools and colleges, including BAF Shaheen College, Kurmitola, Government Science College, NawabHabibullah Model School & College, Bangabandhu College and BananiBidyaNiketan School and College joined the road blockade programme expressing solidarity with the demand.

Earlier, students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College formed a human chain in front of their college around 10 am demanding justice.

On information, police went to the spot and removed them from the college premises.

They staged a sit-in near Radisson Hotel around 10:15 am, disrupting traffic.

As police obstructed them from staging demonstrations near the hotel, they brought out a rally from there protesting the death of their two fellows and put up a barricade on the Airport Road.
Around 10:30 am, several hundred students gathered near the footbridge of Cantonment Railway Station and blocked the road in front of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin School and College.

Besides, students of different colleges, including City College, blocked roads adjacent to Science Laboratory area in the morning, protesting the death of the two students, halting vehicular movement on the busy road.

On information, police rushed in and tried to disperse them, triggering a chase-and-counter-chase between the students and the police.

However, the traffic on the road returned to normalcy around 12:30 pm following police intervention at Science Laboratory area.