News Desk :
The New Market area in the capital turned into a battlefield yesterday as several hundred students of Dhaka College locked in sporadic clashes with traders and shopkeepers, leaving over 200 people injured.
Dr Mohammad Abdul Quddus Sikder, general secretary of Dhaka College Teachers’ Council, claimed that more than 200 students were injured during clashes from Monday night to Tuesday.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday evening.
Doctors of Dhaka College, members of Dhaka College Rover Scout Group and Red Crescent gave first aid to the injured students, according to online news portal Jago News.
Tareq Aziz, a member of the Rover Scout Group, said, “More than two hundred students were treated here and 50 of them were rushed to hospitals after their condition deteriorated.”
Meanwhile, traders claimed more than 10 of their colleagues have been injured.
Following the clashes, vehicular movement is suspended from Azimpur to Science Laboratory intersection.
Humayun, a student of Dhaka College, alleged that the situation worsened after police attacked them on behalf of the traders.
The traders alleged the protesting students vandalised CCTV, lights of the shops and their shops also.
All the shops in the area remained closed since morning as the students clashed with the traders again this morning.
Journalists become targets
At least six newsmen were attacked and injured while performing their duties during the clash between shop employees and Dhaka College students in New Market area.
The identified injured journalists are Deepto TV’s senior reporter Asif Zaman and cameraperson Imran Lipu, The Daily Star’s photographer Prabir Das, Ajker Patrika’s reporter Al Amin Razu, SA TV’s reporter Taifur Rahman Tuhin and cameraperson Kabir Hossain.
The injured journalists said both the students and shop employees beat them up whenever they tried to take photographs and video of the clash.
At least four of the injured journalists received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Injured Asif Zaman said that they came under attack when they were covering the clash near Gausia Market.
“We were preparing to go live. At that time, some traders and shop employees started clubbing our cameraperson. As I tried to save him, they beat me with an iron road and stick,” he said.
Asif needed four stitches in his head.
Like Asif and the Deepto TV cameraperson, several other journalists were beaten up by the shop employees at the New Market end.
On the other hand, a journalist who were coving the clash near Dhaka College end came under attack from college students.
“A group of students pushed me to the ground and beat me up when I was taking photos near Dhaka College,” said The Daily Star’s photojournalist Prabir Das.
The students threatened him and told him to leave immediately.
Additional police arrived at the scene more than two hours
Additional police arrived at the scene after more than two hours after the clash between students and traders in the New Market area.
After 12:30 pm, more than 200 police personnel arrived at the scene with water cannons and tear gas.
Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sajjad Hossain said police had been at the spot since morning. However, the two sides threw brick-bats and the police moved aside. After that, more than a hundred policemen went to the spot around 1:15 pm.
On Monday night, traders clashed with Dhaka College students in New Market area for about two and a half hours. The clash started around 12 midnight and lasted till 2.30 pm. Police brought the situation under control by removing the two sides from the area at midnight.
bdnews24.com adds: Dhaka College students and store workers from New Market have clashed again after engaging in a violent confrontation that lasted almost two and a half hours in the early hours of Tuesday.
Aaround 10:30 am, students of the college descended on the streets to hold a human-chain protest against the actions of the traders the night before. But their presence drew shopkeepers onto the streets and the two sides, armed with staffs, rods and brickbats, squared off again.
Thousands of workers gathered on the road while Dhaka College students took up positions in front of the college gate and on the roofs of their residential halls.
The two sides then faced off, with groups chasing each other and throwing brickbats. Explosions could also be heard in the area from time to time, reports bdnews24.com.
Around 11:45 am, an ambulance with a patient inside was vandalised near the New Market foot-overbridge. Several people on both sides were injured and bloodied in the skirmishes.
Police arrived at the scene around 12:50 pm with an armoured vehicle and a water cannon to quell the violence.
Asked about the delayed response from police, Deputy Commissioner Sajjadur Rahman of DMP’s Ramna Division said efforts were being made to resolve the conflict through discussions.
Traffic from New Market to the Science Laboratory intersection and surrounding areas have ground to a halt because of the clashes. The violence has also led to the closure of at least 75 shops in the area during the busy festive shopping period, much to the dismay of store owners.
“We returned home at around 4 am after calming everyone down. We promised students that there won’t be any problems with traders again,” said Shahin Ahmed, president of the New Market Shop Owners’ Association.
“But in the morning, the students began blockading the road. As a result, traders of Chandni Chawk, Gausia and other markets came together and clashed with the students.”
‘Razzaq’, a traffic policeman on duty at the New Market intersection, said traffic is being diverted from the area as the main road is closed. It has put pressure on all the surrounding roads, creating intense congestion near Nilkhet.
WHAT STARTED THE VIOLENCE?
Asked how the clashes began, a shop worker named Bablu said that there had been an argument over a bill at a fast-food store near New Market’s Gate-4.
The students came and vandalised the stores in the area, he said, and the clash began when store owners tried to put a stop to it.
Students, meanwhile, claimed that three of them went for shopping at the market when they got into an altercation with the shopkeepers and were assaulted.
Store owners say at least 75 shops in the area are closed due to the violence.
Traffic is also at a halt in New Market and its surrounding areas because of the clashes.
Dhaka College has suspended classes and examinations.
Several people, including law enforcers, were injured in the initial clash. Police fired tear gas shells to quell the violence but they could not say what had sparked the skirmish.
Agitated students protest closure of residential halls
Students of Dhaka College have confined Acting Principal ATM Moinul Hossain to his office, rejecting the institution’s decision to close residential halls amid violent clashes with New Market shopkeepers.
The college announced the closure until May 5 in a notice on Tuesday afternoon, instructing the students to vacate the halls by evening as the clashes continued.
At 3:30 pm, students rejected the order and blocked the acting principal’s office, demanding to know why the administration was silent on “attacks on its students” and why it was allowing police on the campus.
According to the latest reports, one group of students was protesting at the principal’s office while others were engaged in clashes with New Market shopkeepers.
