Students trash assurance of mayor, DMP chief

Agitating students trashed the assurance of authorities and refused to move from the streets on demands for safer roads for all citizens.

They rejected the assurance given by Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia.

The mayor and police commissioner unveiled the foundation plaque of a foot bridge near Bashundhara Residential today and went up to the students.

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They tried to talk to the protesting students, requesting them to move away from the road upon assurance that tough measures will be taken.

"I am always with you. I also want justice," the mayor said. 

"I also agree that your demands are logical. Stay with me with your demands. I want to work with you," he said. "I will accept all of your demands," he added.

However, the students rejected their assurances and forced them to leave the spot empty handed, our correspondent reports from the spot.

“There have been many promises in the past. But none of them were kept,” a student of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) told The Daily Star on anonymity.

They were demanding capital punishment of the driver responsible for student’s death yesterday, shutting down Jabal-e-Noor and Suprabhat buses, and foot over-bridges near all educational institutions.

BUP student Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury, a road safety campaigner himself, was crushed under a bus at the gates of Bashundhara Residential yesterday.

It sparked protests among students yesterday, which grew in magnitude and spread across Dhaka city today for demands of safer roads for all.

AUGUST IN REMINISCENCE

Back in August last year, death of two college students on Airport Road sparked a wave of protests that brought Dhaka reeling to its knees.

The protests, actively participated by students of almost all educational institutions, lasted for more a week and put Bangladesh’s capital on a standstill.

The government was forced to launch special drives and tough crackdowns in an effort to bring discipline on the streets and the transport sector.

Though the effort worked, but only did so for about a month – after which things rolled back on to the same indiscipline what was before.