In Bangladesh, a teacher-professor and TV stars demonstrated against the detention of students
In Bangladesh, professors, teachers and television workers protested to demand the release of students arrested for protesting against the allocation of public service quotas to relatives of independence fighters. Last month, at least 11,000 people were arrested during protests that left hundreds of victims.
Hundreds of Bangladeshi university teachers and TV stars demonstrated in Dhaka on Thursday demanding the release of students arrested during a crackdown on mass protests last month.
Students have been protesting since early July against a rule that would have given the majority of government jobs to descendants of those who fought in the country's 1971 liberation war.
In mid-July, student protests across the country clashed with security forces, resulting in the deaths of over 200 people and the injury of hundreds of students.
The Supreme Court eventually overturned the civil service job quota last week, but it was followed by a crackdown on student leaders and protesters, with more than 11,000 arrested.
Protests continued this week, with students joining new groups holding separate rallies in Dhaka and other cities demanding accountability for the violence and the release of those arrested.
"Around 200 teachers from Dhaka University and some other universities have joined us... This protest by teachers is a show of solidarity with the students who have been harassed and arrested," Samina Lutfa, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Dhaka University, told Arab News.
The protest by Dhaka teachers took place in front of the Aparajeyo Bangla Memorial on the university campus, which commemorates those who fought in the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan that led to Bangladesh's independence.
They also objected to the fact that the security forces who entered the campus two weeks ago to clear the protesting students were not leaving the university premises.
"We have demanded the immediate withdrawal of the police from the Dhaka University campus," Lutfa said.
"Teachers of many other universities also organized protests on their campuses today. I have already taken education from Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University, North South University, Independent University. Teachers from state and private universities joined the demonstration."
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