Staff Correspondent

Students from Dhaka College and Ideal College have clashed in Dhaka’s Science Laboratory area.

Traffic was brought to a halt from Science Laboratory to the Nilkhet intersection for nearly an hour and a half due to the violence on Tuesday afternoon, leading to heavy congestion.

“I heard there was some trouble between the first-year students and older ones,” said Mohammad Mohsin, chief of New Market Police Station. “This led to a clash between the two colleges.”

“The situation is under control, but there is still a bit of agitation,” the OC said around 3:15pm. He said they are speaking to the students.

Witnesses say that the unrest started in front of Ideal College around noon. Some said that a Dhaka College student was beaten as they were passing the area.

Ideal College students then marched out of the college around 2pm, while Dhaka College students passed Science Laboratory and came to the City College intersection. There, the clash started.

Both sides threw brickbats at each other. Some were holding sticks.

At one point, students from Dhaka College breached the police barriers, went to the Ideal College area and vandalised the college’s signboards.

Witnesses said that several people were injured in the clash. It could not be confirmed which college the students belonged to.

Around 4pm, Tarek Latif, assistant commissioner of the New Market Zone, said:

“The situation is now calm. The army is now with us. We are working alongside them.”

“Dhaka College students are claiming that some of their classmates are ‘missing’. We are trying to contact those who are allegedly missing and their families by phone.”