Police brutality against Barisal students

WE are outraged at the uncalled-for police brutality against a peaceful demonstration by Diploma Medical Technology and Pharmacy students in front of the Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.

We are at one with various civil society and rights bodies in condemning the unprovoked and unapologetic violence by the male police, especially against female protestors.

They clubbed the demonstrators indiscriminately irrespective of their sex, and continued to beat them even when they were shrieking in agony on the ground, leaving at least 22 injured.

In a free and democratic country, why would the police, we ask, act in such an inhumane and autocratic manner against 200 students who were demonstrating to realise their 10-point demand, including the formation of a diploma medical education board? The freedom of association and assembly is our constitutional right, and police presence at protest sites can only be justified if it is to ensure safety, not to direct acts of aggression to inhibit the protestors.

We are further aghast that the Barisal Metropolitan Police would term the violence as “light,” justifying the attacks on protestors.

Police brutality against civilians seems to have become a sad fact of life in Bangladesh, with the government providing the impetus as well as impunity to officers to carry out such violence to curb dissenting voices.

We demand that serious action be taken against the police for their unrestrained conduct. We also urge concerned authorities to take note of the students' demands instead of trying to dissuade them with violence.