Police have cleared barricades erected by students of Dhaka Polytechnic Institution on two vital roads in the capital.
Published : 29 Sep 2013, 12:53 PM
Students of the Dhaka Polytechnic Institute took to the streets on Sunday to press for their 2-point charter of demands.
The students want the government to increase promotion quota of diploma engineers from 33 to 50 percent and end discrimination in salary structure. They also want to be called diploma engineers as opposed to ‘supervisor to diploma engineers’
The blockade on the Tejgaon's Saatrasta Intersection had stalled traffic on the Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Road from 10am Sunday.
Traffic on the Mirpur Road had also ground to a halt from 11am after the students set up barriers on the eastern side of Dhanmondi Road No. 27.
The students brandished bamboo sticks and placed blazing tyres on the roads, bringing traffic to a halt.
Tejgoan Industrial Zone Police Station OC Monirujjaman told bdnews24.com, “The blockade was cleared from Saatrasta Intersection around noon”.
Although the students were forces to disperse, they gathered at the entrance of several nearby alleys.
A large number of police and RAB officers have been deployed near the institute to prevent the students from gathering on the main streets.
Police broke the blockade by bursting teargas shells and carrying out a baton charge at Dhanmondi Road No. 27 around 1.35 pm, while the students damaged parked vehicles, bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent Liton Haider reported from the scene. Panicked pedestrians were seen fleeing in fear.
The polytechnic students first started agitating in front of their institution on Sunday.
Vehicles could not get through from Moghbazar to Mohakhali after 10am as the demonstration spread to the Saatrasta Intersection.
The blockade on the two major streets connecting the capital’s south to the north has caused massive tailbacks in adjoining areas.
Students of polytechnic institutions in Bogra, Munshiganj, Sherpur, Magura and Chittagong are also demonstrating as part of a nationwide campaign.
The protesters in some places have clashed with the police when they resorted to vandalism and police intervened to clear roads.
Police fired 15 rounds of rubber bullets to contain the agitation by students at Bogra, injuring three students.
Four students were injured while protesting in Sherpur. They were moved to the Zila Sadar Hospital.