Officials of the administration were held hostage inside the Secretariat by some members of the Ansar for nearly ten hours on Sunday.
They were released after the police and military arrived at the scene and opened Gate No. 3 of the Secretariat at 10:30pm.
Earlier in the day, Ansar members, protesting in demand of nationalisation of their jobs, blocked the Secretariat when government officials and leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, including Nahid, Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, were inside the building.
At one stage, they blocked the entrances to the premises, and the gates were closed. Although the office hours ended at 5pm, the officers and employees remained inside.
In the evening, when the situation started to get out of hand, students of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement platform rushed to the Secretariat with sticks in their hands from the Dhaka University campus.
The Ansar members initially moved back as students reached the area. Later, there was a chase and counter-chase between the two sides.
The police also lobbed a few sound grenades to bring the situation under control. Members of the Bangladesh Army also took position outside the Secretariat. At 10:30pm, the Ansar members retreated.
Clashes between students and Ansar members left around 40 people from both sides injured.
Officials coming out of the Secretariat said many of them were starving as they had been inside for over 10 hours.
Earlier in the day, Home Affairs Adviser Lt General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury assured the Ansar members that the government would accept the demands. Later, the representatives of the force announced the withdrawal of the protest.
But after a while, another group of Ansar members started to demonstrate, leading to the chaotic situation inside the Secretariat.
