Bangladesh Teachers' Protest: Shahbagh Blockade Enters Fourth Dramatic Day

The protestors pressed home various demands, including a 20 per cent house rent allowance, a medical allowance of Bangladeshi Taka 1500, and a 75 per cent festival bonus for employees.

Reports suggest that as the law enforcers tried to stop the procession in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh, the demonstrators, chanting slogans and carrying banners, broke through the barricade and took over the intersection, paralysing traffic in the area.

The teachers and employees, protesting under the banner of the MPO Education Nationalisation Alliance, have been staging a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar since Sunday.

The protest erupted after the finance division of Bangladesh's interim government on September 30 approved raising the house rent allowance for MPO-listed teachers and staff from 1000 taka to 1500 taka.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Delwar Hossain Azizi, member secretary of the Alliance for Nationalisation of MPO Institutions, while addressing a rally at the Shaheed Minar Delwar, reiterated that the government must fully meet their demands.

"The 20 per cent house rent allowance cannot be reduced by even one per cent. We will not accept Taka 1499 as medical allowance -- it must be Taka 1500. The festival allowance for employees has to be 75 per cent," leading Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star quoted Azizi as saying.

"Our teachers were beaten in front of the press club ... After such humiliation, the teaching community will not accept anything short of a gazette notification," he added.

On the other hand, the work abstention continued at MPO-affiliated institutions across the country.

"We will continue the blockade at Shahbagh until our demands are met. We will not leave the streets," said Jahirul Islam, a teacher from Rangamati High School.

On Tuesday afternoon, the protesters attempted a march from Shaheed Minar to the Secretariat, but the police blocked them in front of the High Court's Mazar Gate. They remained there until late evening, before heading back to Shaheed Minar, where they spent the night.

The protestors said that on Tuesday, intelligence agencies and the police administration repeatedly urged the teacher leaders to call off the programme.

"The education advisor has forced these teachers to spend the night under the open sky at the Shaheed Minar. After he became a teacher and sat in a chair, he beat the teachers with sticks, causing injuries. Teachers were pulled by the beard, their clothes were torn, and in the police box, they were slapped. Teachers will not engage in any discussion with this failed education advisor," Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune quoted the protesting teachers as saying.

Bangladesh has been gripped by numerous protests and extreme lawlessness since the democratically elected government of the Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was overthrown during violent protests last year.

- IANS