Student agitation on road safety spread all over the capital yesterday, with more schools, colleges and universities joining in.
This was the third such day of protests that followed the death of two students on Sunday when a bus ploughed into a group of college students waiting for transport on the Airport Road.
With students staging roadblocks and sit-ins at several major points, it was a difficult day for commuters in Dhaka.
The protests appeared to be spontaneous and disorganized, and the students did not appear to have any spokespersons or leadership.
Police were even more aggressive against the protesters yesterday, and charged at them in many places, seriously injuring at least one boy.
In most places students demanded punishment for the drivers of the buses responsible for the death of the two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College.
Others demanded that Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan resign and apologize for his remarks on the incident.
Police and Fire Service sources said several vehicles were vandalized and one bus was burned down.
Airport Road
Around 10am, children in school uniforms took position on the Airport Road opposite Hotel Radisson Blu; protested for about 30 minutes at that spot before police dispersed them.
A student from Uttara told the Dhaka Tribune that when they tried to regroup further down the road at the Kuril bus stand around 12:30pm, the police charged at them with batons.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic Nazmul Alam said that students protested for half-an-hour in the morning but they did not block the road.
Students from Uttara schools and BGMEA University vandalized at least five buses and a mini-truck during their protest. Later a Bushra Paribahan bus was burned near the Jasim Uddin bus stand. /www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2018/07/31/students-block-dhaka-streets-demanding-punishment-for-killer-driver
Comments are closed.