Polytechnic Protests Persist Across the Country
In pursuit of their six-point demands, the Technical Students' Movement of Bangladesh organized a pre-announced program. During the assembly, the protesting students chanted various slogans, including: "Abu Saeed Mugdho, the struggle is not over," "The tool to build the nation, rise again," "Why the attack in Cumilla, we demand an answer," "Why the attack in Cumilla, administration must answer," "What is the reason behind the dramatic meeting," "No more AC-room meetings," "Unite, Polytechnic, unite," "We have shed blood, we shall shed more," and "In the flood of blood, injustice will be swept away."
On Sunday, April 27, students held protest programs across all polytechnic institutes nationwide, including in Dhaka.
At around 10:30 a.m., students of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute began a protest rally from the south gate, which concluded at the north gate.
Mashfiq Islam, a representative of the Technical Students' Movement at Dhaka Polytechnic Institute, stated, "As part of our six-point demands, polytechnic students across the country held protest rallies today. We organized our program in such a manner that it would not cause any inconvenience to the general public. Today, we started a protest rally from our institution, circled around the surrounding areas, and concluded back at the campus."
The next course of action will be announced on the Facebook page of 'Technical Students' Movement, Bangladesh.' Earlier, on Saturday, April 26, the organization had announced the program through their Facebook page.
More than 400,000 polytechnic students across the country have been protesting for several months to realize their six-point demands. Initially, they submitted memorandums and organized human chains. When these efforts failed to produce results, they boycotted classes and examinations. On April 16, they blockaded the Satrasta intersection in Dhaka's Tejgaon area, causing severe traffic congestion in the capital. Students organized simultaneous blockades across the country on the same day. In Cumilla, law enforcement personnel baton-charged the students during the blockade, which drew national attention to their movement.
On April 17, polytechnic students announced a countrywide railway blockade program. Later, after receiving assurances from various government levels, they relaxed their programs and entered discussions. However, as the discussions yielded no fruitful outcomes, the students have continued their series of protest programs.
On Friday, April 18, they protested wearing burial shrouds (Kafon). On April 19, at around 11:45 a.m., they conducted the "Rise in Red" program. The following day, April 20, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., they held a district-level assembly in front of the Women's Polytechnic Institute on the new Agargaon road in Dhaka.
