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Published : 22 Apr 2025, 07:10 PM
Police have said they will “soon” hold talks with the authorities of Dhaka College and Dhaka City College in a bid to prevent recurring clashes between students of the two educational institutions in the capital.
“We will speak with the authorities of both colleges very soon,” said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Assistant Commissioner (Dhanmondi Zone) Shah Mostofa Tariquzzaman on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, students from both institutions were locked in a back-and-forth chase for nearly four hours around the Science Laboratory.
The situation began to ease around 4pm after students left the streets, Mostofa said.
No one was detained during the clashes, confirmed New Market Police Station chief Mohsin Uddin, adding that traffic had returned to normal.
Earlier, he explained that Tuesday’s unrest began when students from Dhaka College hurled brickbats near City College.
"Apparently, a Dhaka College student was beaten by City College students on Monday. Dhaka College students retaliated by beating a City College student on Tuesday, triggering the clash,” said OC Mohsin.
Tensions quickly flared into a back-and-forth chase, with brickbats being thrown from both sides.
Eventually, students armed with sticks gathered at key points.
A large number of police personnel were deployed at the Science Laboratory intersection.
During their efforts to disperse the students, Dhaka College students reportedly removed the City College nameplate, reigniting tensions.
Police resorted to baton charges and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
But later, City College students regrouped outside their campus, while Dhaka College students occupied near the Science Lab intersection, with unrest stretching into the afternoon.
Several injured students sought treatment at Popular Hospital in Dhanmondi, with six of them later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), according to Inspector Md Faruk of the hospital’s police outpost.
The DMCH-admitted students included Adib, Liyon, and Rajin, all identified with single names, as well as Fazle Hasan, Ahsan Shamim and Nazmus Sakib.
Among them, Ahsan, an eleventh-grade student at City College, said: “Around 12:30pm on Tuesday, we had just stepped off the college bus when Dhaka College students launched a surprise attack.
"I heard that someone from Dhaka College was beaten the day before, but I don’t know who. Still, we were the ones who attacked.”
Fazle Hasan, a final-year undergraduate student at Dhaka College, said: “[On Monday], some of our junior students were beaten and subjected to obscene photos.
“That’s what led to [Tuesday’s] fighting. I got hurt while trying to stop them.”
On Apr 15, students from both colleges were involved in a similar clash, which began around 11:30am following tensions between the groups.
Dhaka College and City College are less than half a kilometre apart at the Science Laboratory intersection.
Students from both institutions frequently clash several times a year over petty issues.
On Feb 9, students from City College and Ideal College had squared off in the Science Lab area.
Before that, on Sept 10 last year, a clash between students of Dhaka College and Ideal College left 18 people injured.
Dhaka College students had also removed the nameplate of Ideal College that day.
Five days later, Ideal College students vandalised a Dhaka College bus in the same area.
On Nov 20, during Dhaka College’s founding anniversary celebrations, City College students vandalised two of their buses.
That incident triggered several rounds of clashes between the two groups, lasting into the evening, with Dhaka College claiming over 150 students were injured.
Later, a committee was formed, consisting of representatives from Dhaka College, City College, Ideal College, Birshreshtha Noor Mohammad Public College, Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College, and the police.
The committee aimed to prevent minor issues in the Dhanmondi area’s colleges from spiralling into full-blown violence.
Yet, students continue to engage in fresh clashes over seemingly “trivial matters”.
