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Rajshahi University (RU) engineering students blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway on Thursday as part of their protest over the police 'attack' on engineering students' march in Dhaka.
Students started their procession from RU's ZabirIbn-e-Hayyan building at 11 AM and circled major campus roads before blocking the main university gate and the adjacent highway for approximately 30 minutes. The protest disrupted traffic on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route.
During the protest, students chanted slogans including, "No quota, merit only," "Injustice in the name of quota will not be tolerated," "Break the corrupt hands of diploma holders" and "No place for discrimination in our golden Bengal."
Sifat Abu Saleh, a leading organiser of the "Engineering Rights Movement" and a student of the Department of Information and Communication Engineering, said, "A country that fails to honour its engineers can never reach great heights. The police brutally attacked my fellow students during Wednesday's long march to Dhaka. Our movement will continue until the interim government accepts our demands."
Another student, Shahriar Hasan, stated, "Our colleagues were assaulted by police in Dhaka on Wednesday. In protest, we blocked the highway today (Thursday). Immediate implementation of our demands and accountability for the attack are imperative."
As part of the movement earlier this week, students from Begum Rokeya University (BRUR) submitted a memorandum to the Rangpur NESCo office protesting the harassment of Rokonuzzaman, assistant engineer, and former BUET student.
During the meeting with Northern Electricity Supply Company (NESCo) Executive Engineer Golam Hossain, students said Rokonuzzaman was reportedly harassed and threatened by 20-25 diploma-holder officials.
Engineering students from BUET and other universities staged protests in Dhaka's Shahbagh area in response to the harassment and for their demands.
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