In Bangladesh, thousands of demonstrators under the ‘Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’ took to roads and streets in different parts of the country on Friday. In Dhaka, hundreds of students from different educational institutions brought out processions, demanding justice for those who were killed during the recent Quota Reform Movement. They were joined by teachers and cultural activists.
Despite incessant rain, hundreds of students were on streets in Chattogram city as part of the mass procession announced by the Students Against Discrimination. While in Khulna, Clashes broke out between students and police during a rally this afternoon.
Besides, the protestors also blocked the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway and Dhaka-Pabna highway.
Meanwhile, heavy law enforcement including police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been deployed in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal, Rangpur and other major cities of Bangladesh to maintain law and order situation.
Earlier in the morning, six coordinators of the quota reform protests said they were forced to withdraw their programmes while in the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka police. A day after their release from custody, they issued a joint statement on Friday morning accusing that they had been held captive forcibly for seven days in the name of safety.
The statement said that the anti-discrimination student movement will continue demanding the trial of the killing of students and citizens and the release of the detained innocent people. “Students and citizens across the country will be urged to take to the streets defying the government’s propaganda and repression. The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain”, the statement said.
Besides, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had announced a nationwide student procession programme for Friday in protest against the killing and mass arrests and to press home for their 9-point demand.
According to local media reports, in connection with the recent unrest in Bangladesh, around 10,900 people, including students, have been arrested in 674 cases filed over the last 15 days since July 18.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has condemned the use of live fire ammunition in Bangladesh. The spokesperson for the UN secretary general Stéphane Dujarric said, “We have condemned the use of live fire ammunition that we have seen in Bangladesh. Governments, whether in Bangladesh or anywhere else, need to be protecting the rights of people to protest peacefully and need to be protecting the right of journalists to do their job in a free and unfettered manner.”
Navalsang Parmar (Dhaka)