Police yesterday denied claims that they had attacked students demonstrating to have this year’s medical school admissions results annulled.
But students demonstrating at Shahbagh crossing maintain that they were attacked by uniformed personnel around noon yesterday.
Witnesses said police detained 26 protesters at Shahbagh crossing belonging to two separate processions, 10 from the first procession and 16 Bangladesh Chhatra Front activists from the second.
Addition Deputy Commissioner (Ramna Zone) Jasim Uddin claimed many of the protesters were not students. “They were blocking the road, so they were taken to Shahbagh police station.”
Police confirmed that 10 people had been brought to Shahbagh police station and were being held in detention. The other 16 were picked up and briefly brought to the station, but were later let go, police said.
Police said the protesters’ identities and addresses were being verified and their motives for protesting investigated.
Around 9:30am yesterday morning, several hundred students and a number of their guardians participated in a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar under the banner of the “Student-Guardian Oikya Forum.”
On seeing the police, the group gathered near Raju Bhaskarjo, and then marched towards Shahbagh crossing around noon.
Police allegedly scuffled with demonstrators and then dispersed the crowd as the procession reached the National Public Library, protesters said.
Tamanna Sultana, a former student of Holy Cross College and a medical college applicant, said police attacked the group and held 10 people, injuring several demonstrators in the process.
Within thirty minutes of the incident, the Bangladesh Chhatra Front, a left-wing student organisation, brought out a procession protest the incident of police violence.
As the Chhatra Front procession neared the public library, police moved in to detain some of their participants.
Chhatra Front leaders claim that 16 of their leaders and activists, including central committee General Secretary Snehardi Chakrabarty Rintu and Dhaka University (DU) unit Organising Secretary Salman Siddiqui, were taken to the police station.
Chhatra Front DU unit President Rashed Shahriar told the Dhaka Tribune: “Sixteen activists were detained in the police attack, of whom four were injured and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Police later brought them to Shahbagh police station.”
Mohammad Khaled Saifullah adjourned the demonstrations yesterday around 2:30pm, saying protests would resume today at 9am at the Central Shaheed Minar.
On September 18, some 83,000 students sat this year’s medical college admissions examinations. On September 20, the authorities announced that 48,448 students had passed.
The day after the results were published, protests broke out amid allegations of repeated question paper leaks on Facebook the night before and the morning of the exam.
Students have been demanding the government nullify the results and hold fresh exams since the exam took place in disputed circumstances. The government has rejected protesters’ demands and are enrolling new medical students.
Our correspondent in Chittagong reports that medical college applicants demonstrated yesterday at the Chittagong Press Club around 11:00am, demanding fresh entrance exams.
Around a hundred applicants participated in the rally at which speakers said there was no doubt the question papers for the crucial entrance examination had been leaked in exchange for money.
Speakers denounced the government’s decision to begin the enrolment process, and threatened tougher measures if the current results were not annulled and a retest held.