Staff Correspondent:

Leaders and activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal left the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon after blocking the busy thoroughfare for nearly two hours, demanding justice for Shahriar Alam Shammo, a Dhaka University student and a leader of the JCD.

Traffic movement resumed while the people suffered immensely as vehicles got stuck in the area due to the blockade.

Several hundred leaders and activists of the JCD blocked the Shahbagh intersection around 3:45pm. They chanted slogans protesting alleged negligence in the investigation of the murder and demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators.

Chhatra Dal central leaders, including President Rakibul Islam and General Secretary Nasir Uddin, joined the demonstrations along with other activists near the Shahbagh metro rail station.

Leaders and activists of the JCD from Dhaka metropolitan north and south units as well as various public universities also gathered there.

In their speeches, Rakibul Islam and Nasir Uddin demanded the resignation of the DU vice-chancellor and the proctor.

Besides, they also warned of tougher movement if their demands, including the immediate arrest of Shammo’s killers, are not met.

Meanwhile, students of Dhaka University again laid siege to Shahbagh police station today following their 48-hour ultimatum.

Before the gherao programme, protesters held a brief rally at the base of the Anti-terrorism Raju Memorial Sculpture where teachers of the university also expressed their solidarity with the protests.

Later, they brought out a procession and marched toward Shahbagh police station.

On Friday, students besieged the police station and issued a 48-hour ultimatum to arrest the real perpetrators of the murder.

A group of miscreants stabbed Shammo in the Suhrawardy Udyan area on 13 May night. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where the on-duty physicians declared him dead.

Shammo was a student of the 2018–19 session at the Institute of Education and Research, and literature and publication affairs secretary of the Chhatra Dal’s AF Rahman Hall unit.

Shariful Islam, elder brother of the deceased, filed a murder case with Shahbagh police station on 14 May morning, accusing 10 to 12 unidentified people.

On the same day, the police arrested three individuals – Tamim Hawlader, 30, Palash Sardar, 30, and Samrat Mallik, 28 – conducting drives at places in the capital and later produced them before a court.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam ordered the authorities concerned to send the trio to jail.

On Saturday, the police produced the trio before a Dhaka court again and sought a 10-day remand for each of the accused. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahin Reza placed them on a six-day remand each.