The agitators have announced a ‘complete shutdown’ program across the country today, demanding quota reform.
At the beginning of the day, the presence of a small number of vehicles was seen at various points in Dhaka.
In the morning, Border Guard Force BGB said in a circular that 229 platoons of BGB have been deployed across the country including Dhaka to keep the law and order situation normal.
Meanwhile, the police of Jatrabari police station said that a new chase started at Shanir Akhara in Dhaka on Thursday morning. Clashes with the police, chases and chases are going on there till midnight on Wednesday.
Locals clashed with the police in Jatrabari and Shanir Akhara areas and the police said that the agitators set fire to at least 20 places of Shanir Akhara, including the toll plaza of Hanif flyover.
On Wednesday night, students agitating for quota reform announced a complete shutdown program across the country on Thursday.
Asif Mahmood, one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement, announced the new program in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the nation on Wednesday evening. He advised the students to be patient.
What is the situation at complete shutdown?
In a press release at midnight on Wednesday, the anti-discrimination student movement coordinator team called for the shutdown of all offices and courts in the country during the shutdown.
According to the press release, roads and railways will be blocked on this day, but ambulance, emergency and media transport will remain exempt from this shutdown.
Meanwhile, BBC correspondents said that traffic was very limited on various roads in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, from the beginning of the day on Thursday.
On normal days, when Dhaka’s office courts are open, traffic jams start from 7:30 in the morning. But today there was no busyness on the road. Rather, the presence of both vehicles and people on the road was noticeably less.
Earlier on Wednesday, all schools, colleges and universities of the country were announced to be closed. Among them, many private offices in Dhaka are also reported to be working from ‘work from home’ system.
However, during the shutdown, all types of vehicles except for emergency vehicles were to be stopped, but last night Bangladesh Road Transport and Owners Association said that they have been ordered to maintain normal traffic on Thursday.
Although at nine o’clock in the morning, there were not many buses on the roads. Some rented motorbikes, some CNG and private cars are seen at the junctions of various roads in the capital.
BBC Correspondent Shahnewaz Rocky said that the traffic in Banani, New Bazar, Pragati Sarani, Kuril, Banani is very less than normal and there are no private cars.
Two buses are seen running on the road, but the passengers are struggling to get on them.
Extra police were seen at the American embassy and at key road junctions.
Besides, the same scene was seen in Azimpur, Neelkhet, Shyamoli, Mohakhali, Gulshan areas of Dhaka. BBC correspondents said that there is a police station at the entrance of Dhaka University in Nilakshet.
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BBC correspondent Tanha Tasnim said she saw “only three local buses” on the entire Mirpur to Banani route and the number of passengers waiting for the bus was also low.
Solidarity with students’ demands
So far, six people have been killed and hundreds of injured across the country in the ongoing movement.
At the beginning of the movement, it was limited only to the students, but gradually various political parties of the country supported it. These include several political parties including BNP, Jatiya Party, and Hefazet Islam.
Hefazat Islam joint secretary general and spokesperson Maulana Mir Idris told BBC Bangla that they will hold a rally in support of the demand for quota reform at 5 pm from Hathajari Madrasa.
Earlier, the students of Hathazari Madrasa took to the streets on Wednesday evening to protest against the attacks on agitators in various universities across the country.
Whatever happened on Wednesday
Six people were killed on Tuesday to demand quota reform, in remembrance of them, protesting students took out funeral funerals and coffin processions in all educational institutions across the country, including Dhaka University, on Wednesday.
The opposition party BNP organized funeral funerals separately for the six people who died. The party’s leaders and activists performed funeral prayers at Baitul Mukarram yesterday. At that time, the law enforcement forces chased and chased the activists in that area.
However, at the beginning of the day on Wednesday, various universities, including Dhaka University, were announced to be closed for an indefinite period and students were ordered to leave the halls.
Many people accepted that decision and went home, but the agitators demanding quota reform did not accept this decision of the university authorities.
In Dhaka University, there was a multi-faceted tension between the university authorities, students, police and workers of the ruling party’s student body throughout the day.
At one point the police fired tear shells.
Meanwhile, at Jahangirnagar University, an attack on the Registrar’s building took place after the syndicate meeting ordered to vacate the hall.
Women students of Jagannath University locked out the provost and house tutors at one stage of the protest and the authorities later withdrew the decision to close the hall.
However, the situation began to deteriorate from Wednesday afternoon, when the police lobbed sound grenades to remove the agitators from Dhaka University.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the nation about the quota movement at 7:30 p.m. that day. He urged the quota reform activists to be patient and said that the students would get justice from the courts. He also spoke about the murder trial of the deceased.
Apart from this, many students and journalists were injured in the clashes that took place throughout the day yesterday. Many of them have now taken treatment at Dhaka Medical College.