At least seven people were injured as a section of Dhaka College students, linked to ruling party’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League, locked in a clash with the shopkeepers of Dhanmondi Hawkers Market yesterday.
Traffic movement was suspended for over two hours since 3:30pm when the clash broke on the busy Mirpur Road. Additional police were deployed in the area to avert further clash.
The injured are Dhaka College students Papon and Shanto, pedestrians Nurul Islam and Titu Miah, shopkeepers Rony and Alamgir, and a customer named Hamida Begum. They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Eyewitnesses said two young men – Mahbub and Zafar – along with a woman and a child went to a shop named Sari Mela in the market around 3:15pm yesterday to buy wedding sarees. They chose three saris worth Tk60,000 but refused to pay money.
As the shop staff protested, the duo identified themselves as students of Dhaka College and said that they rule the entire Dhaka City. This is why they had the right to get the saris without any payment, shop in-charge Habibur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.
Unable to take away the saris, the duo threatened the staff to be ready for consequences within half an hour.
It was later learnt that Mahbub and Zafar are the followers of Sohel Rana, the publicity secretary of the now-dissolved Chhatra League unit of Dhaka College, the traders said. Sohel, however, denied the involvement of his fellow members in the clash.
The woman could not be identified immediately, but some students said that she was the relative of a Chhatra League leader of the college unit.
Habib said that before they could take any measure or inform the police, some 15-20 students swooped on them with sharp weapons. Some of them were carrying small firearms in the waist. Several police members also confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune seeking anonymity.
At that time, the traders claimed that the students had damaged five shops in the market including Sari Mela and looted their products. Many traders left their shops out of fear.
It was the footpath hawkers who first chased the students, Abdul Mottaleb, a trader of the market, said, adding that many other students then joined in and chased the traders. They vandalised several shops beside the road and also torched four motorcycles including one of a Dhaka Tribune photojournalist.
The traders claimed that the police members had not taken any action during the clash.
The clash continued until 5:20pm when the police cleared the road by firing rubber bullets, sound grenades and tear gas shells.
Hazi Mohammad Khorshed Alam, joint secretary of Dhanmondi Hawkers Market Owners’ Association, claimed that 15 to 25 shopkeepers were injured in the clash. The students also tried to torch a shop named Siddique’s but the shopkeepers doused the fire immediately, he alleged.
He said they would file a case over the incident.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Ramna zone) Mohammad Jasim Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune that after receiving information, a team of police had rushed to the spot immediately. But they could not take any action as the number of people engaged in the clashes was nearly a thousand.
More police were sent to the spot around 4:30pm, he said, adding that the police fired around 50 rounds of rubber bullets, sound grenades and tear gas canisters to disperse the agitators.
The traders alleged that it has become a common phenomenon that the ruling party activists of Dhaka College engage in clashes with the shopkeepers in New Market area over extortion and non-payment or half-payment for products they want to take away.
However, the agitating students claimed that the shopkeepers had misbehaved with the female relative of one of their fellows. When some senior students went to the shop to solve the matter, the traders misbehaved with them again.
None of the demonstrators was, however, willing to be named claiming that they were all general students.
