Bangladesh: Student Protest for Safe Roads by Tahir Hasan
Since morning, students took position at various important points for the seventh consecutive day demanding safe roads and justice for their two peers killed in a road crash in the capital on July 29.
Since morning, students took position at various important points for the seventh consecutive day demanding safe roads and justice for their two peers killed in a road crash in the capital on July 29.
After a weekend, the students poured onto the streets in their thousands. The demonstrators, mostly students in their mid-teens, chanted "We Want Justice" as they defied rain to take to the streets, bringing city traffic to a standstill.
With uniforms and ID cards, they controlled traffic systems, checked licenses of the drivers and fitness certificates as they have been doing for the past six days.
Ministers and top police officials have made repeated calls for the students to call off their protests that have near-paralysed the capital and have now spread outside the capital.
Like the previous days, no buses except a few BRTC buses were seen on the streets.
More than a thousand of students started gathering at Air port goal chattar intersection around 10:30am. As the day wore on, more and more students from different educational institutions gathered.
Initially they allowed vehicles to move, but as their number rose they stopped vehicular movement around 11:00am. Only ambulance and vehicles carrying women, children and students were allowed to pass.
As the allegation of infiltration was rife, the students checked each other's ID cards.
An hour later, the students observed a minute's silence in memory of Dia Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, whose death sparked the unprecedented movement. Then they sang national anthem. Many guardians also joined the protest.
"We shall not fail, as we came here with a legitimate demand," thundered one student.A female student said, "We believe there will be change. And it seems we will make it happen."
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