Photo : Messenger
On Friday, July 12, students from Jagannath University staged a protest rally condemning the recent police brutality against students nationwide during the ‘Bangla Blockade’ yesterday. Their protest aimed to call for the abolition of all unjustifiable quotas in government jobs.
The demonstration began at 4:30 PM in front of the university’s Arts Building. The students marched from the campus, circled Victoria Park, and then assembled at the main gate of the campus for a sit-in that lasted approximately 30 minutes. The protest caused significant traffic disruptions in the Sadarghat area.
Throughout the rally, students chanted slogans such as, “Quota or Merit, Merit Merit,” “Why the Brutality at CoU? We Want Answers!” and “Spread the News Across Bengal, Bury the Quota System!”
Zakaria Islam, a Mathematics student, stated, “We will continue our movement on the streets until our demands are met. We will not leave until the government abolishes all forms of unjustifiable quotas and enacts a law in Parliament to ensure that quotas are only used for the underprivileged communities as specified in the Constitution.”
Masud Rana, a Physics student, added, “We are protesting for a legit cause, the abolition of all unjustifiable quotas in government jobs. However, we have witnessed violence against our peers at various universities during our peaceful protest. We demand that those responsible for these attacks be quickly identified and brought to justice.”
Earlier, on July 7, the current single-point demand of the students was: All forms of unjust and discriminatory quotas at all grades should be abolished, and the quota system should be amended by passing a law in the parliament to bring quotas to a minimal level only for the disadvantaged groups as specified in the Constitution.
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