Firing teargas and rubber bullets riot police clashed with quota-reform protesters in different parts of the capital city in the first hours of Thursday (July 18, 2024) at the start of a nationwide complete shutdown. Riot police fought pitched battles with the protesters in Badda, Merul, Uttara, Dhamandi, Motijheel and Arambagh. Police used teargas shells and rubber bullets. Cocktails --home-made bombs-- rocked different parts of the city. The clashes also spread in the alleys of the residential areas causing panic among residents, eyewitnesses said. Private BRAC university at Badda and its surrounding areas turned into battle fields as students, including from schools took to the streets defying heavy presence of police and Border Guards of Bangladesh personnel. The government has deployed 229 BGB platoons to maintain law and order during the shutdown. No casualties have so far been reported during the first few hours of violence on Thursday. But an 18-year-old boy was reportedly killed in clashes at Jatrabari on Wednesday night raising the death toll from ongoing quota protests to seven. Read more: Violent clashes continue in Dhaka’s Jatrabari, Shanir Akhra areas during shutdown Hundreds have been injured in the first few days of clashes. Clashes between protesters, many carrying sticks, and riot police occurred at Uttara, where dozens of colleges and schools are located. At Uttara's Housebuilding area thousands of students, including women, blocked the main road connecting Tongi with the capital city. Carrying sticks the students have gathered from all educational institutions in the surrounding areas. No transport except rickshaws are seen here. After chases and counter-chases seen in the morning amid teargassing riot police seemed to have retreated down the road at Azampur. Read more: ‘Complete Shutdown’: Protestors, police clash in Dhaka’s Uttara; police box and 2 buses vandalized "We are not going anywhere until our demands are met," said a 16-year-old girl who has joined from a nearby English-medium school. UNB is withholding both the name of the girl and her school for their safety. During the shutdown the capital city's usual chaotic traffic was absent with a few BRTC double-decker buses opening on almost empty streets. Rickshaws ruled the streets in absence of public transports as commuters were seen walking to the destinations or standing on bus stations in the hope of catching a transport. The students called for the shutdown, shortly after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a televised speech on Wednesday evening called for restraint and urged the protesters to wait patiently until the Supreme Court verdict is delivered on the quota issue. She assured the students that they won't be disappointed with the upcoming verdict scheduled for the first week of next month. She also ordered a judicial enquiry into the killings during the protests to identify the culprits. Read more: Situation tense at Badda after students-police clash

  A flag meeting has been held between the border guards of Bangladesh and India in the wake of tensions over the construction of a new mosque next to a 200-year-old mosque in the Gajukata border area of Beanibazar upazila in Sylhet. The BGB-BSF flag meeting was held at Sutarkandi ICP at 5pm on Tuesday (March 23, 2021).  Also read: Petrapole port suspends trade protesting ‘harassment’ by BSF BGB 52 Battalion Commander Lt. Colonel Shah Alam Siddiqui led the BGB delegation while BSF 7 Battalion Commander Captain BS Minhaj led the BSF side. At the end of the meeting, Battalion Commander Colonel Md. Shah Alam Siddiqui told reporters that under the 1975 agreement, Indian forces could not enter 150 yards of the zero line and provide any kind of barrier.  They violated the border law by blocking the construction of a 200-year-old mosque within 150 yards of No Man's Land.  We have strongly protested against this. Also read: BGB-BSF border conference begins in Guwahati He said removal of BSF bunkers and continuation of the construction work of the mosque were discussed in the meeting. However, the BSF bunkers were not removed till filing this report at 8 pm. The Lt. Colonel also added that there will be more flag meetings. He said the BGB was on alert in the border area in the situation that arose. Also read: Four-day BGB-BSF border talks begin It has been learnt that BSF obstructed the construction work of this mosque once before. The situation was resolved in a single flag meeting at that time.