Tonu rape, murder: Students observe half-day strike

Seventeen students were detained and over 100 injured during clashes with police as two left-leaning students’ alliances observed a countrywide half-day strike on Monday protesting the government’s failure to arrest the killers of Sohagi Jahan Tonu.
In the capital, activists of the left student organisations – Progressive Students’ Alliance and Anti-Imperialist Students’ Union – took position at Shahbagh inter
section around 6:00am and kept the roads there blocked till 12:00pm, halting rush hours traffic in the area.
Students of Jahangirnagar University took position on Dhaka-Aricha highway around 6:30am and blocked the highway creating a serious traffic chaos.
At least 20 students were injured as police charged baton on them to clear the highway.
Meanwhile, students of other public universities took position in front of their respective campuses in support of the strike.

Students block the Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka on Monday in observance of a half-day hartal protesting at the killing of Tonu and other incidents of rape and killings. — Sony Ramany

Progressive Students’ Alliance and Anti-Imperialist Students’ Union coordinator Ashraful Alam Sohel said at least 28 students were detained and 100 injured in clashes with police during the strike in different parts of the country.
Of the arrestees, 11 students of Jahangirnagar University were released from Ashulia police station around 4:00pm, several hours after their arrest from the university gate during a clash between police and Progressive Students’ Alliance activists in the morning, said officer-in-charge of the police station Mohsinul Qadir.
Protesting the police assault, the two left-leaning alliances announced countrywide protest programmes for Tuesday.
Monday’s half-day strike was announced from a joint press conference of Progressive Students’ Alliance and Anti-Imperialist Students’ Union at Dhaka University on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier on April 7, they threatened to enforce a half-day countrywide strike on April 25 if the government fails to arrest the killers of Comilla Victoria College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu by April 24.
Sohagi Jahan Tonu, 19, a second-year history student of Comilla Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, was found dead in Comilla Mainamati Cantonment on March 20.
The incident sparked off widespread protests across the country.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net