Job seekers blocked several major roads in Dhaka on Saturday to protest the alleged leak of question papers for the Department of Youth Development’s recruitment examination, disrupting traffic in several areas.
Around noon, protesters blocked the road in front of Mirpur Bangla College near the Technical intersection.
Job seekers also took to the streets in Motijheel and at the Aarong intersection in Asad Gate, bringing traffic to a standstill in the affected areas.
The protesters questioned why question paper leaks were still occurring under the current government, recalling that such incidents had also taken place under the previous regime. They questioned the significance of the July 2024 uprising, in which thousands of people sacrificed their lives.
They demanded that the government identify those responsible and ensure exemplary punishment, as well as take strict measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Afzal Hossain, a job seeker, said he had travelled hundreds of kilometres from a remote area to Dhaka to sit for the examination.
“After enduring so much hardship to reach the exam centre, I learned that the examination had been postponed because the question paper had been leaked,” he said.
“Who will compensate the thousands of us who went to such lengths to sit for the examination? We demand exemplary punishment for everyone involved in the question paper leak,” he added.