5 killed during quota movement, clashes spread across country

At least five people were killed and dozens injured in clashes among students, Bangladesh Chhatra League, and police on Tuesday over 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, halting traffic movement, protesting against attacks carried out on them by Chhatra League men on Monday, and demanding 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, Chattogram, Rajshahi, and Bogura 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.

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 reporters.

More to follow...