Students vow to continue quota reform movement

Agitators reject Quader's assurance, set Apr 15 deadline for decision

Published : Tuesday, 10 April, 2018 at 12:00 AM Count : 1353

Mamunur Rashid, Nazmus Sakib and Abdul Karim

Students and job seekers staging demonstration on Dhaka University campus on Monday demanding reform in the quota system in government jobs. photo: Observer

Agitating students on Monday night declared to continue their sit-in on the Dhaka University campus rejecting the assurance of the government to scrutinize the existing quota system in Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) and other government jobs.

Tension mounted on the Dhaka University campus on Monday night after the announcement as Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men armed with guns, sticks and iron rods took position at Mall Chattar while protesters too took position in front of Razu Sculpture with sticks and bricks.

However, no untoward incident took place as the protestors and BCL men left the spots.

Earlier, students of universities across the country took to the streets on Monday demanding quota reform after police and BCL jointly swooped on agitators on Sunday night on the Dhaka University campus.

Over 150 protestors at Dhaka University were injured and had to take treatment from Dhaka Medical College Hospital while around 100 students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) received injuries as police fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas canisters on them when they blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway protesting police attack in Dhaka.

As the situation was going out of control, the government representatives led by Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader sat with the representatives of agitating jobseekers.

After the meeting, Obaidul Quader in the evening said the government would scrutinize the quota system within May 7 and till then the protesters agreed to halt the movement. However, when the representatives of agitating jobseekers returned to DU campus, the protesters rejected the decision of halting movement.

As a result, a new convenor of the movement was selected. Bipasha Chowdhury, the new convenor, declared around 9.15pm that they would continue their sit-in programme until their demands are met.

"If the government does not take specific decision on quota reform within 15 April, the students of the whole country will come to Dhaka for the movement on April 16," she said.

No class and exam will take place at public and private universities across the country until the reform in quota system, the convenor said.

Earlier on the day, agitating students boycotted classes, took out processions and blocked different highways of the country as part of their nationwide protest against the police atrocities on the Dhaka University campus on Sunday night.

The rank and file of BCL took part in the agitation for quota reform but the leadership of BCL attacked the agitating students. In protest of the BCL attack, its three leaders resigned from the organisation. They are-Saifullah Saif, General Secretary of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department Unit, Sharif Hasan Sujon, General Secretary of Applied Statistics Department unit, and Asibur Rahman Ankur, a leader of Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall unit.

In the early hours of Monday, Dhaka University campus experienced a blackout after which police and BCL men jointly attacked protesters. They also opened fire on them. Witnesses said around 25 armed BCL men were seen on the spot before the crackdown.

Around 12.30am, BCL leaders padlocked the entrance of the halls of Dhaka University to prevent the agitating students from taking to the street.

However, around 1.30am, female students of Kuwait-Maitree Hall, Sufia Kamal Hall, broke the locks and brought students out of Rokeya Hall and Shamsunnahar Hall. Then around 500 female students gathered in the TSC area.

As they came out BCL men with sticks and iron rods chased them at around 2.15am. They then took shelter inside the TSC. On-duty staff present there padlocked the entrance.

DU Proctor AKM Golam Rabbani asked the agitating female students to go back to halls but they refused to do so. However, around 6am they were forced to go back to halls after police clashed with agitating students at Curzon hall and Shahidullah Hall.

Around 2:00am, VC's official house was vandalized. DU VC Md Akhtaruzzaman said the attack was intended to kill him.

The chase and counter-chase between police-BCL and protestors took place for the whole night on Sunday. Police lobbed tear shells and fired rubber bullets. At around 4:45am 50-60 cars of RAB entered the university area and took position at Rokeya Hall and VC's house.

Around 5.50pm, around three-hundred BCL men led by its Central President Saifur Rahman Sohag, General Secretary SM Zakir Hossain, DU unit President Abid Al Hasan and General Secretary Motahar Hossain Prince began to beat agitating students with iron rods and sticks at Shahidullah Hall while police lobbed tear shells.

However, jobseekers and students later were reorganised and chased them. Some BCL men were seen firing on the protesters, sources said.

Meanwhile, thousands of agitating students of Jahangirnagar University blocked Dhaka-Aricha highway at 10.30 am expressing solidarity with the agitating students of Dhaka University. However, the situation became volatile when police around 12.30pm started firing rubber bullets, and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the agitated students. The chase and counter-chase took place till around 2pm.

In the incident, around 100 students were injured. Of them, 20 students were undergoing treatment at different clinics and hospitals in Savar.

Later, JU unit BCL leaders and activists took away the protestors inside the campus and traffic movement became normal on the highway consequently. Around 3pm, JU Vice Chancellor Professor Farzana Islam rushed to the agitating students and expressed solidarity.

She assured them of talking with the government for quota system reforms and urged them to refrain from any kinds of destructive activities. After being assured, students went back from the demonstration.

Expressing solidarity with the agitators in Dhaka, several thousand students and job seekers demonstrated at Chittagong University (CU) and boycotted classes. The protestors blocked the shuttle train bound for Chittagong University at Sholosahar Station in the city around 10:30am till 1.30pm. However, CU Assistant Proctor Liton Mitra claimed that classes and exams except at Bangla Department took place.

Students from Chittagong's private Premier University also engaged in the protests.

In Mymensingh, students of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University blocked Dhaka- Mymensingh highways while students of Bangladesh Agricultural University blocked Dhaka- Mymensingh railway.

Barisal University students blocked the Patuakhali-Barisal highway since 9am demanding quota reform.

Students of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) boycotted classes demanding quota reforms.

Students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Sylhet demonstrated on the campus. Classes and exams were held in a few departments.

In Rajshahi, students of Rajshahi University (RU) and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) staged demonstrations on the campus, boycotted the classes and also blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway. The students of Law and English Department of Varendra University also formed a human chain on the same demand.

(Our correspondents contributed to this report)