4 cases filed over quota reform demonstration

Four cases have been filed against a huge number of unidentified people on charge of vandalism, arson and obstructing lawmen to perform their duty during demonstrations in Dhaka over quota reform in public service recruitment.

All the cases were filed with Shahbagh Police Station last night, Abul Hasan, officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station, told The Daily Star today.

Dhaka University (DU) security officer Kamrul Ahsan filed one of the cases against some unknown persons for vandalising the residence of the university’s Vice Chancellor Prof Mohammad Akhteruzzaman, said the OC.

Humyan Kabir, inspector of Special Branch (SB) of Police in Dhaka filed another case accusing 30 to 40 unidentified people for torching his motorcycle and snatching his walkie-talkie from Doyel Chattar at the DU campus during the demonstration.

Besides, sub-inspectors Bhajan Kumar Bishwas and Robiul Islam filed two cases against a huge number of unknown people for obstructing policemen to perform their duties during the demonstration, the OC said.

The movement for quota reform turned violent on Sunday as police fired several hundred teargas shells and rubber bullets, used water cannons and charged truncheons to disperse the demonstrators who blocked the Shahbagh intersection for over five hours. The clashes went on throughout the night.

Around 100 people were injured during the clashes.

A section of the protesters broke the main gate of the DU VC residence during the wee hours of Monday. They vandalised furniture and other belongings, and also torched three cars inside the compound, according to witnesses and fire service personnel.

Students under the banner of Bangladesh Shadharan Chhatra Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad launched the movement on February 17 to press home their five-point demand, including reducing the quota privilege to 10 percent from 56.