TDS Desk:

The officer-in-charge (OC) of Patiya police station in Chittagong, Abu Zayed Md Nazmun Noor, has been withdrawn following protests by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and the National Citizen Party (NCP).

He was removed around 10:30pm on Wednesday, Chittagong Superintendent of Police (SP) Saiful Islam confirmed.

He said: “The OC of Patiya has been withdrawn and attached to the office of the deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Chittagong range.”

Demanding the removal and punishment of the OC, activists of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had blocked the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway for nine hours.

From 10am to 7pm, the highway was blocked in the Indrapool area of Patiya, causing severe traffic congestion on both sides and immense suffering for commuters.

In support of the same demand, leaders and activists of the NCP also blocked Zakir Hossain Road in Chittagong city, in front of the DIG office, from 3pm to 7pm.

Earlier, around 9pm on Tuesday, leaders and activists of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement detained a Chhatra League member named Dipankar Dey, 29, in front of the Central Shaheed Minar in Patiya.

He was later taken to Patiya police station. As there was no case against him, police initially refused to arrest him. However, when the situation escalated, the police took him into custody.

According to leaders and activists of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, the police refused to file a case even after Dipankar, an activist of the banned Chhatra League, was brought to the station.

Tensions then escalated between the demonstrators and the police, who reportedly charged batons at the protesters, injuring 20 of them.

Police claimed that the individual was beaten while being brought into the station.

They said the group created a kind of mob inside the station, prompting the police to attempt to reason with them within legal bounds.

However, several witnesses stated that as the situation heated up in front of the station, the police took the Chhatra League activist into custody and baton-charged the anti-discrimination activists.