Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
Hundreds of students on Tuesday blocked roads in separate areas of the city on the third consecutive day protesting the deaths of two college students in road accident on the Airport Road.
They also set fire on several buses and vandalized many vehicles in the city’s Uttara and other areas.
The protesters were heard chanting slogans demanding resignation of Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and capital punishment of the accused bus drivers.
Police charge baton on agitating students as they set fire on five buses and vandalized many vehicles in the city’s Uttara and other areas on Tuesday.
A Facebook page also described the protest as ‘protest by general students devoid of any political ideology’ and said the ‘blockades’ will continue until their demands are met. Students have made a nine-point demand, including capital punishment to reckless drivers.
A Facebook group that identifies itself as ‘Private University Student Alliance’ called for road blockades across Dhaka. The activist group urged all students to stop the movement of all vehicles, except for ambulances and hajj pilgrims’ cars, in front of their schools and colleges.
Following the demonstration, owners of transport companies have pulled their buses from services for several hours that created shortage of buses across the capital.
Hundreds of passengers were seen waiting for transports in Uttara, Mirpur, Mohakhali, Shyamoli, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Dhanmondi, Motijheel, Tejgaon, Rampura, Kakrail, Banani, Kafrul, Kallaynpur, Kolabagan-the areas hit by students’ protests.
The number of buses on the roads in those areas was too inadequate for the passengers till Tuesday evening.
In Uttra, hundreds of students from eight to ten educational institutions in Uttara staged demonstration after taking position on both sides of Airport-Gazipur road protesting the deaths of two college students by a bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan on Airport Road Sunday afternoon, eyewitnesses said.
Agitators vandalized several buses and trucks while set two buses of Ena and Bushra Paribahans on fire around 3:30 pm, they said.
Police went action to bring the situation under control, said Uttara Model (East) Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Manir Hossain.
Firemen later doused the flames and movement of vehicles was restored on the road around 5:30pm, said Shafiqul Islam, Duty Officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) in Uttara.
Earlier, hundreds of students of Government Science College and Tejgaon Government Boys High School blockaded the key Farmgate intersection for two hours starting from 11:00am, said Tejgaon Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mazharul Islam.
Students from City College, Ideal College, and other institutions took position on Science Lab intersection blocking the key Mirpur Road for about two hours starting from 11:45pm. One bus of Himachal Paribahan was torched at scene and another bus vandalized.
In the meantime, commuters were seen walking on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue as vehicular movements were halted following students demonstration on Farmgate intersection, said Maruf Hossain Sardar, Deputy Commissioner of Ramna Division.
He said students were removed from the street following negotiations around 2:00pm. At that time they tried to burn one vehicle and vandalize others.
At Mirpur, students blocked Sony Cinema Hall intersection for about half an hour, said Masud Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
The Mirpur-10 and Mirpur-1 intersections were also blocked for an hour starting from 10:00am, said Dadan Fakir, OC of Mirpur Police Station.
There was no traffic moved from Mirpur, Gabtoli, Karwan Bazar, and Airport Road through Farmgate for three hours, Rina Akter, a witness at Asad Gate, told The New Nation on Tuesday afternoon.
A police officer was seen standing after students torched a bus in front of City College in the capital, another witness said.
Also on Mirpur Road, students of Sher-e-Bangla Boys High School and Colony High School put up a blockade at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar around 1:00pm.
Notre Dame College students took Motijheel’s Shapla intersection for two hours and withdrew around 3:00pm, said Omar Faruk, OC of Motijheel Police Station.
At Nabisco intersection in Tejgaon, students blocked the road for about half an hour starting at 12:30pm, said Sub-Inspector Rezaul Islam of Tejgaon Industrial Police Station.
Martin Gomes, a resident of a Farmgate area, got stuck in the blockade enforced by students around 10:30am, the bus was later removed from the road at around 11:30am.
Also another witnesses said, Rampura road was blocked near Rampura bridge in the capital.
“Students have legitimate demands but the way they’re blocking the roads will bring more sufferings to people,” said Ratna Basak, a development worker.
On Sunday (July 29), two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College-Dia Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib-were killed as the driver of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan bus ploughed into a crowd near the ramp of the Banani flyover, adjacent to the Armed Forces Medical College in Kurmitola.
