Police disperse MPO teachers with batons, sound grenades; protest to continue

Tension erupted in front of the National Press Club on October 12 as police clashed with teachers and employees from MPO-listed educational institutions, who were demonstrating to press home their three-point demand. The situation escalated into chases and counter-chases, with police using batons, sound grenades, and water cannons to disperse the protesters.

The demonstrators, however, vowed to continue their movement, rejecting the government’s recent announcement on increased allowances as “inadequate and unrealistic.” The MPO Education Nationalisation Alliance also declared a work abstention in all institutions starting Tuesday, October 14.

The confrontation began around noon during the alliance’s ongoing sit-in in front of the Press Club. From 9 am, several thousand teachers and employees of MPO-listed schools and colleges had gathered at the venue. Police used sound grenades and water cannons to disperse the crowd, leading to repeated clashes, in which several teachers and staff members were injured. One person was detained.

At around 1:45 pm, when protesters took to the street in front of the Press Club, vehicular movement came to a halt. Police responded by firing sound grenades to disperse the crowd. Though the demonstrators scattered temporarily, they soon regrouped and resumed their protest at the same spot.

Police later urged protesters to move their demonstration to the Central Shaheed Minar, but when they refused to vacate the street, police launched repeated baton charges. By 3 pm, the protesters began to retreat, and traffic resumed in the Press Club area. Meanwhile, police also charged batons on a separate student rally nearby, mistaking them for the MPO protesters, prompting outrage from the students.

Rejecting the government’s recently announced house rent hike, the teachers labelled it “insufficient and impractical.” They demanded an increase of house rent allowance to 20 percent of basic pay, medical allowance from Tk 500 to Tk 1,500, and festival bonus from 50 percent to 75 percent of the basic salary.

Leaders of the alliance vowed to continue their movement until official notification of these demands is issued. They urged fellow teachers to remain united and to avoid any unruly behaviour during demonstrations.

Alliance Member Secretary Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi said, “We have announced work abstention from Tuesday. Until the government issues a formal circular meeting our demands, all schools, colleges, madrasas, and technical institutions will remain under continuous strike and movement.”

Later, a 13-member delegation of the protesting teachers went to the Secretariat to meet with the Finance Adviser and the Secretary. The delegation included Convener Principal Main Uddin, Member Secretary Principal Delwar Hossain Azizi, Joint Conveners Nurul Amin Helali, Habibullah Raju, and Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, and Joint Member Secretaries Md Rafiqul Islam, Md Abu Taleb Sohag, Ashrafuluzzaman Hanif, Principal Alauddin, Tofayel Sarkar, Engineer Abul Bashar, Azizur Rahman Azam, and Shanto Islam.

Earlier, the alliance had organised a national rally on August 13, a half-day work abstention on September 14, full-day abstentions on September 15 and 16, and teacher conferences in divisional cities, as part of their ongoing movement for better allowances and nationalisation of MPO-listed institutions.