13 hurt, 3 held after cops maul DU entry seekers
At least 13 were injured and three detained after police used water cannon and batons to maul Dhaka University second-time admission seekers in Shahbagh today.
Admission seekers assembled at the TSC intersection at DU campus around 11:30am and began a march towards the Prime Minister’s Office to hand a memo, witnesses said.
Policemen charged batons to disperse the agitators in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh. About three demonstrators were injured.
Later, a six member delegation went to the PMO to give the memorandum of their demands, our campus correspondent reports quoting Raju, one of the delegation members.
The demonstrators were in a sit-in demonstration near Public Library when the lawmen charged around 2:15pm, said a witness Sadik Reza.
“They (police) snatched away their mikes. Charged batons, sprayed water and picked up about seven demonstrators from the scene,” he told The Daily Star Online.
About 10 others injured during the heavy mauling were taking treatments at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
When contacted, Shoma Rani Saha, a sub-inspector at Shahbagh Police Station, denied to disclose details but said that three demonstrators were being kept held.
Earlier on October 20, the students handed a memo threatening a three-day ultimatum to the Dhaka University vice-chancellor demanding a second chance at the entry tests.
On October 14, Dhaka University decided to allow only freshly passed HSC graduates to sit for entry tests, closing shutters on any second timers.
VC AAMS Arefin Siddique said the decision was made to eliminate unequal competition between regular and irregular students, and discourage tutoring at coaching centres.
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