police action on M’singh demo

College teacher among 2 killed

Two persons, including a college teacher, were killed and over 100 others injured when police allegedly charged batons at a rally of teachers, students and local people on the Phulbaria Degree College campus in Mymensingh yesterday.  They were demanding nationalisation of the college.
The victims were identified as Abul Kalam Azad, assistant professor of the botany department, and Safar Ali hailing from Kushmile Koroitola in Phulbaria.
The conditions of 10 injured persons were stated to be serious. Teachers, students and employees of Phulbaria Degree College brought out a protest rally on the college campus around 1pm yesterday. Earlier, they had announced a programme to block the Mymensingh-Phulbaria road as part of their rally, sources said. According to college teachers, they had been continuing their agitation demanding nationalisation of their college for the past 44 days. The protest programmes included human chains, road blockades and hartal. Local people participated in the protest rally, said sources. “When we were holding the rally, a huge police team, led by Rifat Khan Razib, officer-in-charge (OC) of Phulbaria police  station, entered the college campus and started beating up
the protesters indiscriminately without any provocation. Over 100 persons, including some 25 teachers, were injured,” SM Abul Hashem, convener of Phulbaria Degree College Nationalisation Committee, told The Independent.
Later, there were chases and counter-chases among the police and the protesters outside the college. The law enforcers charged batons at the protesters.
“Safar Ali sustained serious injuries and died on the spot,” Abul Hashem said.  The police also fired about 100 rounds in the air, he added.
“Safar was brought dead at the hospital,” said Dr Ahsan Habib, an emergency medical officer at Phulbaria upazila health complex.
Azad was rushed to Community Based Medical College Hospital in Mymensingh, where he succumbed to his injuries around 4pm. This has been confirmed by Azad’s collegue Arup Kuamr Basak. When contacted, the Phulbaria police station OC denied the charges levelled against the police. “The deaths had no relation with the agitation,” he said. Syed Nurul Islam, police superintendent of Mymensingh, said Azad was admitted to the hospital with chest pain and that he died later. Meanwhile, additional police personnel have been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident. Since the agitation began, the teachers and students have been blaming the local lawmaker for the nationalisation of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Mohila College, a non-MPO college, instead of their college.  The MP’s son,  Advocate Emdadul Haque Selim, is the president of the governing body of that college, sources said.

police action on Msingh demo

College teacher among 2 killed

Two persons, including a college teacher, were killed and over 100 others injured when police allegedly charged batons at a rally of teachers, students and local people on the Phulbaria Degree College campus in Mymensingh yesterday. They were demanding nationalisation of the college. The victims were identified as Abul Kalam Azad, assistant professor of the botany department, and Safar Ali hailing from Kushmile Koroitola in Phulbaria. The conditions of 10 injured persons were stated to be serious. Teachers, students and employees of Phulbaria Degree College brought out a protest rally on the college campus around 1pm yesterday. Earlier, they had announced a programme to block the Mymensingh-Phulbaria road as part of their rally, sources said. According to college teachers, they had been continuing their agitation demanding nationalisation of their college for the past 44 days. The protest programmes included human chains, road blockades and hartal. Local people participated in the protest rally, said sources. When we were holding the rally, a huge police team, led by Rifat Khan Razib, officer-in-charge (OC) of Phulbaria police station, entered the college campus and started beating up the protesters indiscriminately without any provocation. Over 100 persons, including some 25 teachers, were injured, SM Abul Hashem, convener of Phulbaria Degree College Nationalisation Committee, told The Independent. Later, there were chases and counter-chases among the police and the protesters outside the college. The law enforcers charged batons at the protesters. Safar Ali sustained serious injuries and died on the spot, Abul Hashem said. The police also fired about 100 rounds in the air, he added. Safar was brought dead at the hospital, said Dr Ahsan Habib, an emergency medical officer at Phulbaria upazila health complex. Azad was rushed to Community Based Medical College Hospital in Mymensingh, where he succumbed to his injuries around 4pm. This has been confirmed by Azads collegue Arup Kuamr Basak. When contacted, the Phulbaria police station OC denied the charges levelled against the police. The deaths had no relation with the agitation, he said. Syed Nurul Islam, police superintendent of Mymensingh, said Azad was admitted to the hospital with chest pain and that he died later. Meanwhile, additional police personnel have been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident. Since the agitation began, the teachers and students have been blaming the local lawmaker for the nationalisation of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Mohila College, a non-MPO college, instead of their college. The MPs son, Advocate Emdadul Haque Selim, is the president of the governing body of that college, sources said.