BANGLADESH

Students of Dhaka University laid a two-hour long siege to one of Dhaka's key intersection, Shahbagh, on Sunday pressing for a five-point charter of demands including construction of an underpass or an over-bridge at the intersection.

The protest halted traffic in the busy hours of the day and led to severe backlogs in the area.

The protest which started around 11:45am was sparked by the death of international relations student, Touhiduzzaman on Aug 28 after being run over by a bus at the intersection.

The students withdrew their siege around 1:45pm after Dhaka City Corporation South's Chief Executive Officer Sultan Islam Chowdhury told them that they would be building an over-bridge at the crossing as an underpass was not possible.

"We will start taking measurements from tomorrow," he promised.

The students had initially gathered in front of the Arts Faculty building around 10:30am before taking out a procession up to Shahbagh intersection before stopping all traffic through the vital crossroads.

The university's Proctor Professor Amzad Ali urged the students to lift the siege, but was turned down.

They said that they would not relent until a senior government official assures them that their demands will be met.

Their demands included building underpasses at Shahbagh and New Market intersections, foot over-bridges at all the other crossings including Doyel Chattar and Palashi roundabout, ensuring strictest punishment for the driver of the assailant bus, providing Tk 10 million compensation for the family of the deceased from the transport company, implementing a strict ban on vehicles without stickers entering the campus and taking the initiative to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging her to ensure security of the students.

Police have reopened traffic at Dhaka's key Shahbagh intersection after a nearly 6-hour halt following protests and vandalism by the Dhaka University students after the death of a fellow student in a road accident on Tuesday evening.

Traffic resumed around 1pm on Wednesday.

Touhid Uz Zaman, a second-year undergraduate student of the International Relations Department and a resident of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, came under the wheels of a Rajdhani Express bus around 4:30pm on Tuesday as he was crossing the street near BIRDEM Hospital.

He succumbed to his injuries around 7:30pm. His remains were later sent to his ancestral home in Kishoreganj.

Infuriated by his death, fellow DU students had descended on the streets and smashed around 40 vehicles and also set on fire several of them in Shahbagh and New Market areas.

Their demonstrations led the traffic to a complete halt in these areas from 8pm until 11:45pm.

The demonstrations continued on Wednesday morning, too. The students were seen taking out a procession with a coffin.

Police had closed the roads linking the Shahbagh intersection in the morning even though traffic had resumed past-midnight on Tuesday. All vehicles were seen taking the road in front of the Rupasi Bangla Hotel.

The traffic halt caused long tailbacks at key points of the city, including Banglamotor, Karwan Bazar, Kakrail and Paltan.

Around 11:15am, nearly 200 students brought out a procession at the Shahbagh intersection from Modhur Canteen and organised a rally there.

They also spelt out several demands to ensure safety of teachers and students, including building an underpass at the Shahbagh intersection, punishing the bus driver responsible for the accident and the on-duty traffic police, compensating the deceased's family and the students who got injured during the Tuesday night's clash with the police, tightening of security at all the university entry points and barring outside vehicles from the campus.

Shammi Akter Happy, another student of the university's Psychology department, was also run over and killed by a bus at the same intersection on May 28, 2005. The university authorities facing tough protest had assured the students of building an underpass then, but the assurance never become a reality.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Zone Deputy Commissioner Nurul Islam had earlier told bdnews24.com that the traffic through the intersection was closed to avoid any more demonstrations and vandalism.

"The decision has been taken to ensure safety of the general people," he said.

Extra police personnel have also been deployed at all the different university entry points. Vehicles only with the university authorisation were allowed to enter the campus.

Police were also controlling the traffic at the other streets adjacent to the university in Kataban, Nilkhet, Polashi, Chankharpool and the High Court areas.

Meanwhile, ruling Awami League's student front Chhatra League's DU unit brought out a mourning procession around 11:30am over the death of Touhid Uz Zaman. DU Proctor Amzad Ali was seen in the procession.

The students of the International Relations Department also observed a human-chain programme around 12pm in front of the Arts Building protesting the death of their fellow student. Teachers of the department also joined hands with their students.