At least 40 people were injured as a clash broke out between Ansar members and students near the secretariat in Dhaka tonight.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) police camp in-charge (inspector) Md Bachchu Mia said the injured started coming to the hospital around 9:30pm.

Asif Hawladar, Dhaka University correspondent of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, was injured critically during the clash. He was admitted to a city hospital.

The incident took place when over a thousand students many of them with sticks marched towards the secretariat where dozens of Ansar members were holding protests blocking the entrance of the key government headquarters. The students termed the Ansar members as "agents of autocracy".

Photo: Screengrab

Sources said several conveners of the anti-discrimination student movement invited students to gather at the Raju sculpture to march towards the secretariat.

The Ansar members initially moved back as students reached the area around 9:20pm.

However, they [Ansars] chased back the students with sticks. They also started throwing bricks targeting the students which ensued a clash between two groups. The clash continued till 10:00pm, according to witnesses.

Chaitanya Hossain, a student said both students and Ansar members became injured during the clash.

Murad Mondal, another student said they were busy collecting and distributing relief to the flood victims in the university area. Learning that some officials and advisers have been confined to the secretariat by the Ansar members, they decided to march towards it.

"We don't need any Ansars in our country," he said.

The clashes came after members of the Ansar refused to withdraw their protest despite the interim government's assurance of abolishing the "rest tradition" in the force.

According to the Ansar regulation, a member is sent on a six-month mandatory leave after working for three consecutive years. During this period, Ansar members do not get paid. 

There are three branches of Ansar: the General Ansar, the Battalion Ansar, and the Village Defence Party (VDP).

According to officials, the government do not pay any salary to 70,000 general Ansar members. A member is paid by the office – Tk 540 per day -- where he is deployed for security and other purposes.

On average, the Ansar and VDP headquarters receive a deployment requisition for 55,000 for different institutes or government offices around the year.

Besides General Ansars, there are around 17,000 regular members in the force called the Battalion Ansar. The force has also around 57 lakh VDP members, whose jobs are volunteer-based.