Situation still tense at Shanir Akhra
Situation remains tense in the Shanir Akhra area after hours of intense clashes between law enforcers and protesters.
Protesters were present at the area even after midnight, reports our correspondent. A large number of law enforcers were also present.
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The protesters set fire at multiple spots. Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway remains suspended.
The clashes left scores injured. Of them, at least seven, including six with pellet wounds, took treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Many others sought treatment at local medical centres, according to our correspondent.
Meanwhile, according to media reports one person was shot dead during the clashes. However, The Daily Star could not confirm it.
The clashes started around 3:00pm yesterday when protesting students brought out a procession on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, protesting the police attacks on students in the last two days.
Witnesses said as the police tried to disperse them, protesters threw brickbats at them, prompting law enforcers to fire tear gas shells, sound grenades and shotgun pellets.
This continued for a while.
The police action eventually forced many of the protesters to take shelter in alleys in the nearby residential areas, resulting in a series of chases and counter-chases between the two groups.
Till the filing of this report, the clashes were raging on.
According to witnesses, police fired hundreds of rounds of tear gas shells, sound grenades and shotgun pellets at the protesters to control the situation.
They also said many locals joined the protesters while a large number of people affiliated with the ruling party were seen taking the side of cops during the clashes.
By 7:00pm, the entire area from Jatrabari Police Station to Kajla turned into a battlefield. Several vehicles were vandalised.
Around 8:00pm, a toll plaza of Hanif Flyover and an adjacent police box were set alight.
Protesters also set fire to tyres at several points.
Shahin Alam, senior station officer of Postogola Police Station, told The Daily Star that two fire engines rushed to the spot but could not reach there due to the clashes.
The fire died down only after it burnt the plaza into ashes, he said.
Vehicular movement on the flyover remains halted.
Around midnight, some vehicles, which were seized by police over time, kept in front of the Jatrabari Police Station were set on fire.
7 WOUNDED
With smoke and loud noise engulfing the area, two-year-old Rohit Mia started crying inside his home. To calm him, his father, Babu Mia, took him in his arms and went downstairs.
He stood inside the collapsible gate and tried to understand what was happening.
Suddenly, pellets hit him and Rohit.
They were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in the evening.
Rohit's mother, who brought them to the hospital with the help of locals, said, "They were inside the collapsible gate of the house. Suddenly, they were hit by shotgun pellets, fired to disperse the protesters."
As of filing this report around 2:30am, Rohit is out of danger.
They were among the seven people who were brought to DMCH. Six of them had pellet wounds. The rest four are protesting students.
One of the injured, Faisal was brought to DMCH with multiple pellet injuries.
His condition is critical, said doctors at the hospital.
DMCH sources said Pias, a student of class VIII, and Monirul, a cloth trader, have been admitted to the hospital.
When this correspondent was at DMCH, he saw a teenager brought to the hospital in a critical condition from Jatrabari on a CNG-run-auto rickshaw early today.
Identified as Siam, 18, the unconscious teenager had pellet-like injury marks in his neck, said Bacchu Miah, inspector of police outpost at DMCH.
However, seeing police and a crowd at the hospital, those who brought Siam there, carried him back into the auto-rickshaw and drove away, he added.
Several media, however, reported that Siam had died.
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