Teachers demand justice for killings, torture during quota protest

Bangladesh desk:  A group of teachers from different public universities held a rally on Wednesday protesting against the killings, assault and torture during the ongoing students’ protests for quota reform in government jobs, and demanding arrest of those involved in the misdeeds.

They held the rally under the banner of ‘Anti-Oppression Teachers’ at Aparajeyo Bangla on the campus of Dhaka University.

DU law professor Asif Nazrul said that the government should stop the politics of tagging the students as Razakars.

‘You (the government) were humiliating the spirit of the liberation war by tagging the students as Razakars,’ he said, and added that opening fire on the students was a criminal offence.

The protesting teachers said that, as teachers, guardian and ordinary citizen of the country, it was not possible to accept the way students were being oppressed across the country.

Earlier in the morning, the teachers took position at Shahbagh Police Station protesting at the attacks on the quota reform activists.

At one point, police allowed some of the teachers inside the police station. Later, teachers came out with two students who were arrested Tuesday night.

Shahbagh Police Station inspector (operations) Md Arshad Hossain told New Age that two students were detained at the night following Tuesday.

‘Their teachers came to the police station and took them away,’ he said.

He, however, could not confirm whether the detained students were protesters.