Dhaka, Dec 7 (IANS) Bangladesh's mobile phone traders and students held a protest here on Sunday, causing traffic congestion in several parts of the capital, including the Science Laboratory, Shahbagh, Agargaon and outside the Education Building, local media reported.

Mobile phone traders held a sit-in in front of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) building in Agargaon on Sunday, raising demand for the National Equipment Identity Register's (NEIR) reform and other issues. Protesters were present on one side of the main road in front of the BTRC building, while a few others blocked the opposite side of the road, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Meanwhile, students from Dhaka College, Shaheed Suhrawardy Government College, Government Bangla College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, and Begum Bodrunnesa Government Girls’ College gathered at the Shahbagh intersection and blocked the road for about an hour on Sunday.

At the same time, undergraduate and postgraduate students from seven colleges continued to hold a march towards the Shikkha Bhaban, calling for the issuance of the ordinance for the proposed university. Police placed barricades and closed the road toward the Secretariat, leading to the disruption of traffic movement on that route.

Higher secondary students from Dhaka College and several other colleges continued to stage protests, calling for the preservation of college autonomy. Students continued to hold protests on campus premises and nearby roads, causing traffic congestion.

Earlier in November, several members of the left-leaning Democratic Students' Alliance in Bangladesh were injured after they organised a human chain in Khulna district protesting the nationwide attacks on shrines and Sufi sites and demanding the release of Baul singer Abul Sarkar. The incident occurred at Shibbari intersection in Khulna city on November 26, when a separate group under the banner of 'Students-People', alleging "insult to religion", launched a counter-protest at the same location.

Citing eyewitnesses, Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported that the leaders and other members of the Democratic Student Alliance came under attack with blows, punches and sticks, as they took to the roads with banners, which were subsequently snatched and set on fire. Confirming the incident, Kabir Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sonadanga Model Police Station of Khulna Metropolitan Police, said that the human chain of leftist students was attacked by "students and the general public".

Sajeeb Khan, general secretary of the district committee of the student union, said, "We took up position in Shibbari around 3 pm. Although the police were present, a planned attack was launched on us around 5 pm." He alleged that the other group, which came in the name of "students and the people", were members of United People's Bangladesh (UPB) and Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.

--IANS

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