Police ‘manhandle, charge baton’ on parents protesting against school fees hike

Police in Chittagong have allegedly manhandled and charged baton on parents of the students of an educational institution for blocking a road in protest against tuition and admission fee hikes.

The institution, situated near the Chittagong Export Processing Zone, is run by the Bangladesh Navy.
 
The incidents took place between 10am and 1pm on Tuesday on the road in front of Bangladesh Navy School and College, said witnesses and protesters.
 
A parent, Mohammad Rana, told bdnews24.com that they had taken to the street, as the school authorities had doubled the tuition and admission fees without prior notice, just days before the admissions were to begin.

Another parent, Joynal Abedin, said the admission fee for Class I to Class V had earlier been Tk 4,000 and tuition fee Tk 600.
 
"But the school authorities hiked the admission fee to Tk 8,100 and tuition fee to Tk 1,200 recently just before the admission process was about to begin."
 
He alleged that police had shoved women away and struck men with batons during the demonstration.
 
A plainclothesman can be seen hitting one of the parents with a stick in one of the photos of the incident.
 
But EPZ Police Station OC Abul Kalam told bdnews24.com that the law enforcers had merely requested the protesters to clear the street.
 
"Those who refused to budge were forcibly dispersed. Nothing else happened," he claimed.
 
The port city-based Daily Purbokone's photojournalist Mia Altaf was manhandled by police when he was trying to take photographs on Tuesday.
 
Altaf also alleged that police had seized his camera.
 
Chittagong Press Club and Chittagong Journalists’ Union have protested the police assault on the photojournalist.

Two days ago, police had allegedly assaulted parents who had gone to submit a memorandum to the mayor in protest against a hike in tuition and admission fees in the schools under the Chittagong City Corporation.