Police on Sunday noon used water cannon, sound grenades and baton-charges to disperse a section of demonstrating teachers in front of the National Press Club in the capital.
Several demonstrating teachers were detained during the police action but were later released, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner Masud Alam.
The teachers, under the banner of "MPO-vukto Shikkha Jatiyakoron Prottashi Jote", began a sit-in in front of the Press Club from 8am to press home their three-point demand, which includes a 20 percent house rent allowance on their basic salary.
At around 1pm, a section of the demonstrators announced a move towards the Central Shaheed Minar to continue their protest there, while another group declared a long march towards the Secretariat, choosing to remain in front of the Press Club.
Tensions escalated as demonstrators blocked the road in front of the National Press club and chanted slogans. Police went on action using sound grenades and water cannon and charged batons to disperse the demonstrators to bring the situation under control after 1:45 pm.
DC(Ramna Division) Masud Alam said, “Although most protesters moved to Shaheed Minar from the National Press Club area at noon, it’s unclear why few of them decided to stay at the Press Club. We had to take action to ensure normal traffic movement in the area.”
Earlier, teachers had declared that they would not return to classrooms without a government notification (proggapon) addressing their demands.
After a meeting at the Ministry of Finance, the alliance’s member secretary Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi reiterated the teachers’ stance, saying they would only end the protest upon receiving official confirmation of their demands being met.
However, division emerged among the protesters over the next course of action— on whether to proceed to Shaheed Minar or towards the Secretariat.
The teachers stated they would not back down from their movement until the 20 percent house rent allowance is implemented. They alleged that despite repeated assurances in the past, no concrete steps had been taken.