Bangladesh crisis: Students clash with paramilitary personnel, 50 injured

At least 50 people were injured in Dhaka on Sunday when students clashed with hundreds of paramilitary personnel protesting for job regularisation

At least 50 people were injured in Dhaka on Sunday when students clashed with hundreds of paramilitary personnel during a protest for job regularisation.

The clashes began around 9:20 pm near the Secretariat when Dhaka University students, responding to reports that several students, including Nahid Islam, a student leader and advisor in the caretaker government, had been detained by members of Ansar, a paramilitary auxiliary force, attempted to disperse the Ansar protest demanding permanent employment.

Both groups hurled bricks at each other during the confrontation, leading to the involvement of police and military forces to restore order.

Earlier in the day, the Ansar members had ended their protest after receiving assurances from Lt Gen (Retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the interim government's home affairs advisor. However, tensions escalated as students accused the Ansar force of reneging on the agreement.

 

Student protest coordinator Hasnat Abdullah later posted on Facebook, blaming former Ansar director general Maj Gen AKM Aminul Haque for the continued blockade of the Secretariat despite the demands being addressed.

"The autocratic forces are trying to make a comeback through the Ansar force. Even after their demands were met, we were kept locked in the Secretariat," Abdullah said.

The news of the ongoing blockade sparked further unrest as over a thousand students and others, many carrying sticks, gathered at the Secretariat. Violence broke out when they encountered members of Ansar. Following the clashes, reports emerged that scattered Ansar personnel had been attacked.

Nahid Islam, the advisor for information and broadcasting, accused the Ansar protest of being part of a broader conspiracy. "We will take legal action against those involved," Islam said.

Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud, the director general of the Ansar and Village Defence Force, defended the actions of his force in a statement to The Daily Star. He claimed that those persisting in the protest were not Ansar members. "They are outsiders. They came with an additional set of clothes, and their intention was different," he said.

Mahmud vowed to take "legal action" against those responsible for the ongoing protest.

(With agency inputs)