C T Online Desk: At least 15 Chhatra League activists were reportedly thrown from a six-storey building during a clash with students protesting for quota reform in Chittagong on Tuesday.
The incident took place in the Muradpur area of the city in the afternoon, with the clash lasting till 6:30pm.
According to sources, around 5pm, the protestors severely beat up Chhatra League leaders and activists who had taken shelter on the roof of the six-storey building.
However, they were beaten even on the roof. Some activists went climbing down the building’s pipe to escape but were beaten and fell. Others were allegedly thrown from the sixth floor.
Witness Mizanur Rahman said: “At around 3:30pm, Chhatra League leaders and activists came to Muradpur in a procession from Sholoshahar station. At that time, the protestors were protesting in Muradpur. There was a clash, and the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells. One side threw bricks at the other. Meanwhile, the Chhatra League activists dispersed, and the protestors attacked them wherever they could.”
He also said: “At that time, at least 20 leaders and activists of Chhatra League took shelter on the roof of a building named Mir Manzil at Muradpur intersection. They threw bricks at the protesters from there. The protestors also threw stones at them from below. At one point, the Chhatra League activists on the roof ran out of stones. By then, the Muradpur intersection had come under the control of the protesting students. They went to the roof and beat the Chhatra League leaders and activists with sticks. The activists went down the building’s pipe to save their lives. By then, at least a few were beaten and thrown from the roof, while the rest went down and fell.”
Nurul Azim Roni, former general secretary of Chittagong Metropolitan Chhatra League and current Awami League youth sports sub-committee member, said: “Quota reform activists attacked our activists without reason. To escape from them, 20 workers took shelter on the roof of a six-storey building. BNP-Jamaat people disguised as protestors beat them mercilessly and threw them from the fifth floor. Members of the Red Crescent Society rescued 15 of our workers and admitted them to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.”
Claiming that 29 Chhatra League leaders and activists were seriously injured in the clash, Nurul Azim added: “The injured were first admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital. Of these, 11 seriously injured people were admitted to Parkview Private Hospital. Five are in ICU, and the doctor said their condition is critical.”
Regarding the incident, Mosharraf Hossain, a student of the quota reform movement, said: “Some unruly Chhatra League workers threw bricks at us from the roof of that six-storey building. Some students were injured. At one point, they were brought down from the roof. No one was thrown from the roof. They fell down the pipe out of fear and got injured.”
Panchlaish police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Santosh Kumar Chakma said: “Many people were injured in the clash in Muradpur. We still do not know what happened on the roof of that building.”
