Several hurt as police swoop on madrasa teachers

Police charged batons and used water cannons to disperse teachers of independent Ebtedayee madrasas -- primary-level educational institutions under the madrasa board -- at Shahbagh yesterday.

The attack took place as they were on their way to the Chief Adviser's Office, demanding the nationalisation of all such registered institutions.

The protesting teachers said several of their colleagues were injured in the police action, and at least five of them received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Protesting the police action and to realise their six-point demand, the teachers immediately began a sit-in in front of the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.

The protest was ongoing there as of filing this report around 10:15pm.

Shamsul Alam, convener of the teachers' platform, said they held a meeting with the members of the education ministry. "They listened to our demands, but no decision was reached. We will not withdraw our sit-in until our demands are met," he added.

Earlier, witnesses said several hundred teachers gathered at Jatiya Press Club, where they had been demonstrating for several days.

After holding a rally there, they started a march towards the Chief Adviser's Office around 12:30pm.

As the agitating teachers, under the banner of "Swatantra Ebtedayee Madrasa Shikkhak Oikyojote," reached Shahbagh and broke a police barricade near Shahbagh Police Station, the police took action, witnesses said.

Khalid Monsur, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, said, "The teachers were heading towards the Chief Adviser's Office to lay siege with their procession. We stopped them at the Shahbagh intersection and dispersed them."

A police official said the teacher leaders had promised to stop at Shahbagh and nominate a team of representatives to send their memorandum to the office of the chief adviser. However, they did not keep their word and broke the police barricade.

"For this, we applied force to disperse them," the official said.

Speaking to reporters, a female teacher said, "Why did police attack us? How can police charge batons on teachers when we are demonstrating for a logical demand?"

"People as old as their fathers have come here to protest, but they were attacked, assaulted, and humiliated. What kind of act is that? We will not leave until the announcement of fulfilling our demands comes from government high-ups," said Rafiqul Islam, another teacher.

The teachers have been staging demonstrations for many years, and most recently, they started a sit-in in front of Jatiya Press Club for the past several days to press home their six-point demands, including the nationalisation of the madrasas, similar to primary schools.