Shop owners in the capital’s New Market area, which were closed following the deadly clashes with Dhaka College students on Tuesday, are hoping to reopen their businesses from Thursday and operate peacefully.
Some of them tried to reopen shops in the afternoon, but the attempts went in vain after explosions were heard during a procession by the students.
The students held a press conference at Shaheed ANM Najib Uddin Khan Khurram auditorium of the college around 11:30pm and placed a 10-point charter of demands, including the withdrawal of top police officials concerned for their "controversial role as they sided with the shop owners, workers and hawkers".
They demanded that the treatment cost of the injured students is borne by the traders and the law enforcers, and that the planners, instigators, and attackers are identified and given exemplary punishment. Some of them were named Advocate Moqbul Hossain, Farman Mollah, Jahangir Hossain, Amir Hossain Alamgir, Mizan and Tipu among others.
On behalf of the students, Sujay Bala and Masum Billah read out the written statement. They claimed that pedestrian Nahid Hossain was beaten to death by the hawkers and demanded compensation for his family from the traders.
Their other demands include setting up CCTV cameras in all the markets; forming a special monitoring cell to end harassment of customers and taking action against sexual assault of female shoppers; evicting the hawkers and illegal car parking; and formulating a code of conduct for all shop owners and staff.
They also said that the authorities must cancel the lease of Chandrima Super Market and New Super Market and return them back to Dhaka College.
On the other hand, shop owners' leaders of around 20 markets in the area were set to sit with the representatives of the home and education ministries and the Dhaka College authorities at the Science Laboratory auditorium around 9pm, but the details of the meeting could not be known.
Although there were no reports of new clashes on Wednesday, a tense atmosphere was prevailing in the area since morning. Additional law enforcers were in place all day to avert any untoward incident.
Hundreds of students of Dhaka College took to the streets in the afternoon and obstructed vehicular movement for a brief period in the New Market area around 5pm. This came three hours after the shopkeepers of the area said they wanted to resume business.
They said Eid-ul-Fitr sales had been heavily hampered by the violent clashes with the students from Monday midnight till Tuesday night that resulted in the death of a man and injuries to a dozen others.
Newmarket Shop Owners Association President Dewan Aminul Islam Shaheen told Dhaka Tribune: "We want a peaceful solution. We will form a joint committee on the administration of Dhaka College so that such trivial incidents do not happen again in the future.
"The home minister has assured us that the matter will be resolved."
Also Read - Dhaka College students return to street as traders start opening shops
In the morning, the situation was relatively calm with the movement of traffic returning to normal. Many traders did not open their shops. Employees were seen standing still with worried looks on their faces in front of their shops.
Students of Ideal College went to Dhaka College with a procession to express solidarity. Moreover, a demonstration was held at Jahangirnagar University demanding punishment of the shop owners and workers.
Three attackers identified
Three students of Dhaka College who were involved in the primary incident that resulted in the clashes have been identified.
They are Nasim, Masum and Liton, who are residents of Farhad Hall of the college.
Sources said the clashes broke out over the setting up of an iftar table between two fast food shop owners in the New Market area on Monday.
There are two fast food shops beside gate No 4 of New Market named "Welcome" and "Capital".
Then one of the shopkeepers set a group of Dhaka College students against their competitor. That was when the situation turned into violent clashes between the traders and the students.
Also Read - What set off the violence at New Market?
The traders demanded exemplary punishment for those involved in the incident after conducting an impartial investigation.
Shop owners deny assaulting journos
When asked about journalists being attacked during the clashes, Helal said: “Our employees are not that educated. Please let us know if they have misbehaved; we will take action against them.”
Dewan Aminul Islam Shaheen said those who vandalized ambulances and attacked journalists lacked common sense and claimed that there were no shop owners or employees among the attackers.
Claiming that there was a third party involved in the attack, he said: "We have no conflict with journalists. If there is evidence that our people attacked journalists, action will be taken against them.
Also Read - New Market clashes: BNP questions ‘police inaction’
He also said authorities needed to find out who the actual attackers were.
He also expressed regret over the whole incident and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul of the young man who succumbed to injuries sustained during the skirmishes.
Over 200 Dhaka College students injured
The clashes with traders from New Market had left more than 200 students of Dhaka College injured, according to the institution’s acting principal.
The condition of three students who had been seriously injured was improving, ATM Moinul Hossain told reporters on Wednesday.
“The prime minister will bear the cost of the treatment of injured Mosharraf, who is currently in the ICU,” he said.
“We said to the traders yesterday (Tuesday) that you keep your side restrained, we will keep our students under control; let the fighting stop so we can discuss the matter,” Moinul said.
“You (the media) saw that we had gone for a discussion, but came back after being attacked with brickbats, which left our colleagues injured,” he added.
Also Read - New Market clash: One dead, another on life support
Students of 7 DU-affiliated colleges issue 24-hour ultimatum
Meanwhile, students of seven college movements placed four-point demands, including the arrest of the attackers, within 24 hours at a human chain at Nilkhet intersection in the afternoon.
Ismail Samrat, chief coordinator of the Seven Colleges movement, said the attackers on the students should be arrested within 24 hours.
In addition, the injured will have to bear all the medical expenses. The normal environment of learning should be maintained by keeping the hall campus open.
They also demanded the withdrawal of ADC Harun and the identities of the attackers on the journalists and bringing them under the law within 24 hours.
On Tuesday, at least 40 people, including pedestrians and media persons, were injured in the clashes between New Market traders and Dhaka College students.
Among them, a 20-year-old worker of a delivery service died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital later in the day of his injuries. Another worker is currently on life support at the same hospital.
An ambulance with a patient inside was vandalized near a New Market foot-overbridge at around 11:45am. Several people on both sides were left injured in the skirmishes.
At one point, the authorities also snapped mobile internet services in the New Market area as the situation worsened.
The injured journalists alleged that both the rowdy students and shop employees beat them up when they were discharging their professional duties.
Several reporters and camera persons from various media houses, including Bangla Tribune, Deepto TV, and Daily Manab Zamin, were attacked by shop workers while they were covering the clashes.
Shop owners and employees alleged that the journalists were not reporting facts about the clashes.
