Over 50 injured in students clash in Demra

Over 50 people, including students, were injured during clashes among the students of Kabi Nazrul Government College, Suhrawardy College and Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College in Demra area of the capital on Monday.

The injured were taken to different hospitals, including Dhaka National Medical College Hospital (DMCH). .

Mohammad Faruk, in-charge of the DMCH police outpost, said that 30 were brought to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, students of Kabi Nazrul College and Suhrawardy College started gathering near Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College in the morning and carried out attack on the students of Mollah College around 12.30PM following the Sunday�s clash. 

They vandalised the college building and looted valuables from the institution.

Around 1PM, the students of Mollah College appeared there and repeated rounds of chase and counter chase between the two sides took place.

They attacked each other, leaving over 50 people injured. The whole area turned into a battlefield following the clash.

After Suhrawardy College and Kabi Nazrul College students left the spot around 1:20pm, members of army and police went to the scene at about 2PM. Besides, six platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been deployed in Jatrabari-Demra area on Monday following clash.

Meanwhile, Kabi Nazrul College authorities announced the closure of the institute through a notification published on its website on Monday (November 25), citing �unavoidable reasons�.

In a statement, Muhammad Talebur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner of Media and Public Relations of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said that around 25 people were injured in sporadic clashes, and refuted claims on social media that two people had died.

The DMP also requested all to refrain from spreading this sort of misinformation. 

The Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College (DMRC) authorities on Monday claimed that three of their students were killed in the ongoing clashes with students of Kabi Nazrul Government College and Suhrawardy College.

A statement, signed by the Managing Director Ashraf Samir of DMRC, was issued to the media at 2:30PM, claiming the deaths of three students.

The statement, however, did not disclosed the names and identities of the deceased.

According to a media release of DMP, additional police have been deployed from Sutrapur to Demra area from 7AM following Sunday�s clash.

Police tried to control the situation peacefully, fearing it might take a different turn. Despite this, the agitating students engaged in chase and counter chase, attack and looting, it said.

Saleh Uddin, deputy commissioner of the Wari division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), while speaking to the press at the spot of the clash said that those who are responsible for the recent attack will be apprehended within 24 hours.

A case will be filed following the incident, he added.

Meanwhile, police have filed against 8,000 students from various colleges, including Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College (DMRC), over vandalising government properties and stealing magazines loaded with bullets.

Sub-Inspector AKM Hasan Mahmudul Kabir at Sutrapur Police Station in Dhaka as a plaintiff filed the case on Sunday.

On Sunday, students from 35 colleges staged demonstration at Dhaka National Medical College and Hospital at Bakshibazar in Old Dhaka centering a student�s death in �wrong treatment� at the hospital.

On November 16, Abhijit Halder, an HSC student of Mollah College, was admitted to the medicine department of the hospital with dengue. He died on November 18.

After that students vandalised the hospital alleging negligence in treatment at the hospital on Sunday. They alleged that students from Kabi Nazrul and Suhrawardy Colleges supported by National Medical College attacked them.

Later, students from 35 colleges clashed with the students of Kabi Nazrul and Suhrawardy Colleges and vandlised property of the two colleges on Sunday, leaving at least 20 people injured.

The 35 colleges included Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Molla College, Dhaka College, Dhaka Ideal College, City College, Giyasuddin College, Government Tolaram College, Imperial College, Borhanuddin College, Science College, Dhaniya College, Lalbagh Government College, Udayan College, Adamjee, Notre Dame, Rajarbagh College, Nur Mohammad, Munshi Abdur Rouf College, Siddheswari College, Green Line Polytechnic, Dhaka Polytechnic, Mahbubur Rahman Institute of Science and Technology, and others from the capital.

However, Kabi Nazrul College's unit general secretary of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Kawser Hossain denied any involvement in the incident. "We are students, and we support students. We did not attack anyone," he said.

NY