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Bangladesh arrests university teachers after riots 24 Aug 2007, 1751 hrs IST , AFP
DHAKA:
Bangladesh security forces on Friday arrested four university professors who
were allegedly active in protests that erupted into clashes with police and
prompted a curfew in six cities, officials said.
The arrests in early morning
raids came before the government said it was temporarily suspending the curfew
imposed after three days of unrest in the country, which has been under
emergency rule since January.
Harun-ur-Rashid, dean of Dhaka
University's social science faculty, and Anwar Hossain, dean of bioscience and
general secretary of the university's teachers' association, were arrested at
their campus homes, acting vice-chancellor Yusuf Haider said.
"At least 10 army officers
came to our house in the night and said my father had to go with them to the
police station," said Hossain's daughter Dipannita.
The pair have been active in
the protests this week, which began after army personnel manhandled students
during a football match on the campus of Dhaka University on Monday.
A military-backed interim
government took power seven months ago following a political crisis that saw the
cancellation of national elections.
Two more teachers were
arrested in northwestern Rajshahi early on Friday, said university head Altaf
Hossain.
Hossain said
intelligence officers told him they suspected teachers at the university of
instigating violence there earlier this week that left one bystander dead and
dozens injured.
The detained
academics were applied physics professors Saidur Rahman Khan, also a former head
of the university, and Abdus Sobhan, leader of a left-leaning teachers' group,
he added.
Six local political
leaders -- from main parties the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami
League -- were also arrested in western Chuadanga district for "fuelling the
student unrest," said local police chief Hasan Bari Noor.
BNP student wing president
Azizul Bari Helal was also arrested, a party spokesman said.
Meanwhile, at least 30
journalists were brutally beaten up by security forces, the nation's top media
association said, despite government assurances that the press would not face
restrictions.
In the capital
Dhaka, streets that had earlier been deserted started to return to normal and
people flooded into markets to stock up on food and essentials before the curfew
was re-imposed later on Friday, witnesses said.
The violent protests sparked
by the incident at Dhaka University took place in defiance of a ban on all
demonstrations as part of the state of emergency.
Students demanding that the
army withdraw from the Dhaka campus clashed with police who retaliated with tear
gas.
Non-students joined the
protests which quickly escalated into full-scale riots and spread to other
cities - even after the government decided to close the campus army post.
Interim government chief
Fakhruddin Ahmed said the curfew was imposed to avoid "anarchy" and accused
troublemakers of hijacking the protests.
The clampdown was briefly
lifted on Thursday - which was declared a holiday in a bid to ease tensions -
and the government said it would be suspended for 14 hours on Friday until 10:00
pm (1600 GMT).
Bangladesh's
emergency was imposed on January 11 after months of violence over vote-rigging
allegations which led to the cancellation of elections scheduled for later that
month.
The new government,
which took over the following day, has promised new polls by the end of 2008
after it has completed a massive anti-corruption drive to clean up the country's
notoriously graft-ridden politics.
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