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Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has said that the coordinators of the quota reform movement will be released once they are deemed to be free of any danger.
According to Kamal, the five coordinators of the quota reform movement's platform, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, have not yet been arrested. He mentioned that they would be released once the police determine that they are free from any threat.
The minister made these comments while talking to reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday.
Two coordinators of the quota reform movement's platform, Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah, were taken into custody by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch (DB) on Saturday evening.
Earlier, on Friday afternoon, three coordinators—Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmood, and Abu Bakar—were taken away from the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital.
On Sunday, another coordinator, Nusrat Tabassum, was also picked up by DB officials. The DB has stated that they were taken into custody for their ‘safety’.
All six coordinators in DB custody are students of Dhaka University.
In response to journalists' questions, the Home Minister said, "They themselves said they were at risk. That is why they have been brought in for their safety. They are being asked about which political parties or individuals have provoked such actions that turned violent later. They have not yet been arrested."
UNB adds: Regarding the death toll from the quota reform protests, Kamal said that as many as one hundred and forty-seven people died in the violence.
“147 deaths have so far been reported and police members, Awami League leaders and activists, students and people of different professions were among the deceased,” he said.
Further search is underway to determine the death toll.
Police are working to determine how many women, men and people of different professions were among the dead, said the minister.
The students’ protests demanding reform in government job quota began on July 1. After the students’ clashes with police and Chhatra League activists on the Dhaka University campus on July 15, violence spread all over the country.