By Xinhua
Dhaka : One person was killed and over 300 were wounded in Bangladesh as anti-government students fought pitched battles with police here and other major cities Wednesday.
Thousands of college and university students joined a general strike demanding withdrawal of the state of emergency imposed by the army-backed caretaker government on Jan 11.
A three-wheeler rickshaw puller in northwestern city of Rajshahi was killed during fierce clashes between Rajshahi University students and riot police.
The students’ protests erupted Monday when some army men beat up students and humiliated a teacher of Dhaka University during a football match. In view of the fierce street agitation, the government wound up an army camp, established after the state of emergency was declared, from the campus early Wednesday.
However, the students gave a call for a strike at educational institutions Wednesday demanding apology from the army chief for Monday’s incident and withdrawal of the state of emergency.
In capital Dhaka, police fired barrage of tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to disperse violent students and mob at Dhaka University and old Dhaka. The protesters set afire several buses and cars turning a area into a virtual battlefield.
In the country’s northwestern Rajshahi district, university students clashed with police and put barricades on the highway disrupting road communication with Dhaka.
The police also used rubber bullets in trouble-torn Rajshahi University.
Similar reports of student unrest were also received here from some other districts in central, northern and southeastern Bangladesh.