Shutdown cripples capital city amid clashes between police and protesters

Staff Correspondent: Firing teargas and rubber bullets riot police clashed with quota-reform protesters in different parts of the capital city in the first hours of Thursday at the start of a nationwide complete shutdown.

Riot police fought pitched battles with the protesters in Badda, Merul, Uttara, Dhamandi, Motijheel and Arambagh. Police used teargas shells and rubber bullets. Cocktails –home-made bombs– rocked different parts of the city. The clashes also spread in the alleys of the residential areas causing panic among residents, eyewitnesses said.

Private BRAC university at Badda and its surrounding areas turned into battle fields as students, including from schools took to the streets defying heavy presence of police and Border Guards of Bangladesh personnel. The government has deployed 229 BGB platoons to maintain law and order during the shutdown.

No casualties have so far been reported during the first few hours of violence on Thursday. But an 18-year-old boy was reportedly killed in clashes at Jatrabari on Wednesday night raising the death toll from ongoing quota protests to seven. Hundreds have been injured in the first few days of clashes.

Clashes between protesters, many carrying sticks, and riot police occurred at Uttara, where dozens of colleges and schools are located.

During the shutdown the capital city’s usual chaotic traffic was absent with a few BRTC double-decker buses opening on almost empty streets. Rickshaws ruled the streets in absence of public transports as commuters were seen walking to the destinations or standing on bus stations in the hope of catching a transport.

The students called for the shutdown, shortly after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a televised speech on Wednesday evening called for restraint and urged the protesters to wait patiently until the Supreme Court verdict is delivered on the quota issue.

She assured the students that they won’t be disappointed with the upcoming verdict scheduled for the first week of next month.

She also ordered a judicial enquiry into the killings during the protests to identify the culprits.