Over 100 injured in Chhatra League-student clash in Jigatola

More than 100 people, including students and journalists, were injured in clashes between students demanding safer roads and Bangladesh Chhatra League activists at Dhanmondi’s Jigatola area in Dhaka on Sunday.

At least five injured students were currently undergoing treatment at Popular Medical College and Hospital, some at Square and Labaid hospitals, and another eight at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Many others were also treated at different local clinics and hospitals following the clashes.

The incident occurred when over 1,000 students marched towards Jigatola, protesting Saturday’s attack on demonstrators. 

Police lobbed at least 20 teargas shells to disperse the students who had gathered in front of the Awami League president’s political office at Jigatola.

Later, the students hurled brickbats at the police.

Students claimed that they were holding a peaceful demonstration when members of law enforcement agencies fired teargas shells at them. 

After a while, the students had moved back to Dhanmondi Road No 2, while police lobbed at least 12 more teargas shells to disperse them.

When the students dispersed and spread into different streets and lanes of Dhanmondi. Some of them were chased by Chhatra League activists towards Science Lab via Dhanmondi Road No 1, triggering the clash that left at least five injured.

A few minutes later, police chased another group of students, who were coming through Dhanmondi Lake. Chhatra League activists, wearing helmets and carrying sticks and metal rods, also chased and beat the students.

Around 2pm, as some students were trying to approach the main road from Shimanto Square, both Awami League activists and policemen chased them through Dhanmondi 15.

Earlier in the day, several thousand students of Dhaka University (DU) had blocked the Shahbagh intersection for an hour from around 11:30am, protesting Saturday’s attack on students of schools and colleges by police and Chhatra League activists, our correspondent Fahim Hossain Shovon reported from the spot.

Later, they joined students of Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (Buet) and Dhaka Medical College and marched towards Science Lab.

There, hundreds of students from a number of private universities also joined them. After they started for Jigatola, violence broke out when police and Chhatra League activists chased them.

The clashes later spread to Science Lab and Elephant Road, and ended around 3:30pm following chase-counter-chase with police and Chhatra League activists occupying the roads. The journalists were assaulted during that time.