Bangladesh teenagers demanding roadway security paralyse Dhaka

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Thousands of Bangladeshi high school trainees have actually been opposing for a 5th day after 2 teens were killed by a speeding bus.

The demonstrators, demanding justice and roadway precaution, have actually brought the capital Dhaka to a virtual grinding halt.

A government minister has implicated them of hypocrisy, triggering more anger.

The education ministry has closed high schools throughout the country and guaranteed to take their demands into account.

This did not end the protests.

“They should have taken our needs seriously, but they didn’t,” Imran Ahmed, an objecting student, told AFP.

There are reports that a few of the protesters, mainly aged in their mid-teens, have been examining bus registration plates and demanding to see motorists’ identity files.

“We don’t desire any automobiles without licences on the streets. Those unfit to drive must not get licences, and we don’t desire minor vehicle drivers driving public transportation,” protester Mohammad Sifat told AFP.

Some automobiles have been vandalised and cops armed with guards and batons have driven the protesters back in some parts of the city.

Saiyara Islam Roj, 17, told the BBC she had never objected before.

“I am joining because I see how dangerous our roadways are every day when I head out. All we desire is corruption to be gone and driving licences to stop being distributed like candy,” she stated.

Saifur Rahman, 17, said that in parts of Dhaka, students had taken control of traffic lanes in order to regulate traffic and examine chauffeurs’ licences and had actually also cleared lanes to enable emergency situation services automobiles to pass through.

“This is the majestic work of simple teenage students here,” he stated.

He likewise said he had seen cops assaulting some protesters.

Bus operators have reacted to the demonstrations by suspending their services.

Bangladesh’s transportation sector is regarded by many as corrupt and hazardous.

The protests emerged after news that a boy and a woman had actually been eliminated on Sunday, struck by a bus racing for passengers, spread quickly on social media.

Minister Shajahan Khan – who has links to transfer unions – then sustained the outrage by asking why the high school students had actually not responded the same when 33 individuals died in a bus crash in India on Saturday. He later apologised.

On Wednesday House Minister Asaduzzaman Khan stated the government would introduce a public transport safety project.

Researchers from the National Committee to Safeguard Shipping, Roads and Trains state more than 4,200 pedestrians were killed in road mishaps in 2015 – up a quarter from the previous year.