• Dozens injured, traffic movement and rail communications halted, BGB deployed

Desk Report:

At least six people were killed and dozens injured in clashes among students, Bangladesh Chhatra League, and police on Tuesday during the quota reform movement in the country.

Protests flared up as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the capital and elsewhere, demanding reformation in the quota system in government jobs.

They blocked highways and busy thoroughfares, and put up barricades on railway lines, protesting against attacks carried out on them by Chhatra League men on Monday, and demanding the withdrawal of the prime minister’s remarks what they said belittled them.

Meanwhile, the government has deployed members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Dhaka, Gazipur, Chattogram, Bogura, Rangpur, and Rajshahi to maintain law and order amid the deteriorating situation in the country.

In Chattogram, three people, including a student, were killed during a clash between Chhatra League men and quota protesters in the city’s Muradpur area this afternoon.

Two of the deceased were Md Wasim Akram, a third-year student at the Department of Sociology of Chittagong College, and Md Faruk, an employee of a furniture shop.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Ashraful Alam confirmed the news of fatalities.

As part of the nationwide quota reform movement, students from International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, halting the movement of vehicles and causing a 60km tailback.

They also blocked the railway line in Sitakunda.

In Dhaka, a young man was killed in a clash between Chhatra League activists and demonstrators in front of Dhaka College.

The deceased was identified only as Mohammad Faruk, 25.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) police outpost in-charge Inspector Bachchu Mia said the young man was brought to the hospital in a critical condition and the on-duty physician declared him dead.

He bore sharp weapon injuries below his ear and on various parts of his face, the inspector added.

Another youth who was injured in Dhaka’s Science Lab area died Tuesday evening. The exact cause of his death remains unconfirmed.

Sources at DMCH reported that the youth, who was wearing black jeans and a navy blue T-shirt, was brought to the hospital by ambulance around 7pm. The on-duty doctor declared him dead upon arrival.

Confirming the news of death, Inspector Bachchu Mia said the youth’s head was wrapped with bandages.

Shakil, the ambulance driver’s assistant. Said they brought him from Popular Medical College Hospital in Dhanmondi. Initially, the youth was rushed to Popular Medical College Hospital with severe head injuries before being transferred to DMCH.

When asked whether the youth’s injuries were related to the clashes between quota protesters and Chhatra League in the Science Lab area earlier this afternoon, Shakil said he was unsure about the circumstances of the injury.

Students and Chhatra League activists faced off in different parts of the capital with intermittent clashes, turning those areas into battlefields.

Four demonstrators sustained bullet wounds during a clash in the Chankharpul area. They were taken to DMCH, our correspondent reports.

Besides, three students of Jagannath University (JnU) and one student Kabi Nazrul Government College received bullet injuries during demonstrations near the campus.

According to the witnesses, students brought out a procession from JnU around 3:30pm. When they were marching towards Ray Saheb Bazar, gunshots were fired from an alley, leaving them wounded.

Demonstrators from different public and private universities blocked busy roads and intersections, halting traffic movement and causing immense suffering to people.

Quota protesters also put up a barricade on the level crossing at Mohakhali, disrupting Dhaka’s rail communications with other parts of the country.

In Rangpur, a student of Begum Rokeya University (BRU) was killed during a clash between the police and the demonstrators at the university entrance this noon.

Abu Sayeed, 25, a student of the English department, was brought dead at Rangpur Medical College Hospital around 3:05pm.

Sayeed, also one of the organisers of the quota reform movement, was injured as the police fired rubber bullets to resist a group of protesters entering the BRU campus around 2pm, according to the eyewitnesses.

The clash erupted as students from different educational institutions marched towards the campus from the Lalbagh area and tried to enter the campus through Gate No-1.

Initially, the law enforcers baton-charged and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, while the latter threw brickbats at the police.

As clashes turned severe, they fired rubber bullets at the demonstrators, leaving at least 50 people injured.

“Rubber bullets were fired to bring the situation under control,” Abu Bakar Siddique, additional commissioner of police, told the Daily Sun.

In Rajshahi, Students of Barendra University blocked the Rajshahi-Dhaka Highway on Tuesday, demanding reform in the quota system.

They took position on the highway in front of the main gate of the university at noon, halting traffic movement on both sides. Source: UNB and others