Police go tough on medical entry protests in Dhaka

Police yesterday baton-charged and dispersed the agitating medical admission seekers at the capital's Karwan Bazar as the students were marching towards the health directorate to submit “evidence of question paper leak.”

Protesters alleged law enforcers beat them up and fired pepper spray at them, injuring at least seven of them.

Police, however, denied the allegation.

From Karwan Bazar, the admission seekers returned to the Central Shaheed Minar where they had started their programme in the morning, and declared a sit-in there for today.

Khaled Saifullah, a spokesperson for the agitating students, said, "We only wanted to submit some evidence of question paper leak but came under police attack.”

 "We will go on with our movement until our demands are met," he said.

The agitators want to press home their demands including cancellation of the results of this year's MBBS and Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) admission tests, alleging the question papers were leaked.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday termed the students' movement “illogical”.

"All the procedures for medical admissions are going on as per the rule. They [demonstrators] are trying to create unnecessary chaos in the name of agitation,” he told reporters at a programme at his ministry.

Pragatishil Chhatra Jote and Samrajjobad Birodhi Chhatra Oikya, two alliances of 14 left-leaning student bodies, jointly observed a strike at many educational institutions yesterday, expressing solidarity with the admission seekers.

The strike was observed in Rangpur, Bogra, Sylhet, Comilla, Moulvibazar, Chandpur, Gaibandha, Mymensingh, Kushtia, Naogaon and Barisal, Imran Habib Rumon, convener of the alliances, told a press briefing at Shahbagh.

The alliances also brought out a procession on the Dhaka University campus, demanding fresh tests for admission into the medical and dental colleges.

The main gate of the Faculty of Arts building was kept locked. Classes at the university were mostly vacant but some examinations took place as per the schedule, said students.  

At Chittagong University, some departments suspended their classes and examinations.

The medical admission seekers have consistently been agitating since September 19, a day after the admission tests, complaining that many candidates got the questions through Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media.

Yesterday, around 400 students along with their guardians held a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar around 11:00am. Expressing solidarity with the movement, some students of Dhaka Medical College (DMC) joined in.

With banners and posters, they took out a procession and went to Shahbagh, but found the street in front of the Public Library barricaded.

Removing the barricades, they moved on and kept the busy Shahbagh intersection blocked from all sides from 12:30pm till 2:00pm, halting traffic and creating huge tailbacks.

Members of Pragatishil Chhatra Jote, Samrajjobad Birodhi Chhatra Oikya, students of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and some private medical colleges joined them there.

Talking to The Daily Star, Nowshin Tabaussum, a fourth year student at the DMC, said they quit their classes to join the demonstration.

"We will not accept that our juniors will get admitted to medical colleges through corruption. Otherwise, it is the people who will suffer in the long run,” she said.

From Shahbagh, the protesters started to march towards the health directorate at Mohakhali through the Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue. But police obstructed some of them at Bangla Motor intersection while others managed to proceed.

The students were finally stopped at Karwan Bazar. In protest, they sat down on the lane in front of Star Restaurant around 3:00pm.

Police initially requested the students to leave, but they did not pay any heed to the law enforcers' requests and kept the busy thoroughfare blocked for around 15 minutes.

At one point, police baton-charged and chased the protesters away. Some of them were beaten up during the time. 

The students alleged some women protesters were assaulted by male police personnel.

Wahiduzzaman, additional deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of DMP, rejected the allegation.