Violence erupts over schoolboy's death
9 vehicles set on fire, 50 damaged in Mirpur
Staff Correspondent
Mirpur burst into violence yesterday afternoon as marauding locals set fire to at least nine vehicles and damaged more than 50 after a schoolboy was killed in a road accident near Mirpur Section-10 in the capital. Several thousand people took to the street and went on the rampage on Rokeya Sarani, between Kazipara and Mirpur-10, for about one hour suspending traffic movement for about three hours until 3:15pm. The violent protests started immediately after a passenger bus ran over Saiful Aziz Omi, a class VII student of Shahid Abu Taleb High School in Mirpur, when he was trying to get on the vehicle at about 12:15pm. Witnesses said the bus crushed the 12-year-old boy while trying to block another bus that sought to overtake it from the wrong side. "The boy slipped from the gate and fell under the rear wheel of the bus. One side of his head was crushed," pushcart-puller Mohammad Mozammel, who witnessed the accident, told The Daily Star. Omi was returning along with a friend to his East Kazipara house after taking Islamic Studies examination at his school. As the mob started damaging and setting fire to vehicles, riot police rushed to the spot and fired at least 15 teargas canisters to disperse them. The cops also charged baton in a frantic bid to quell the protestors. Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) appeared at the scene and dispersed the mob after 40 minutes of chaos. Witnesses said about 30 students of the same school who were returning home chased the bus speeding away and started damaging it. Kafrul police, however, managed to seize the bus and arrested driver Belayet Hossain. In a few minutes, a few thousand locals, shop owners and pedestrians joined the students and started torching and damaging vehicles. Traffic movement on Rokeya Sarani remained suspended for about two hours after the law-enforcers brought the situation under control. Omi's family members, relatives, school friends and teachers gathered at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital when the body was taken there. "Bring my son back. I have reared him in great efforts. I do not want to hear anything -- bring my son back," Omi's mother wailed when she regained her senses. "They (bus workers) have killed my son." Omi was the eldest among two sons of Zakir Hossain, a garment materials supplier.
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