Staff Correspondent

Students and others supporting ethnic minority groups engaged in a brief but aggressive clash with police near the Secretariat while marching towards the home ministry to seek assurances of justice over Wednesday’s violent attacks at NCTB.

Notably, on Thursday morning, the interim government issued a statement assuring justice over Wednesday attacks, and notifying the concerned that two have already been arrested in connection with the incident.

And yet, clashes erupted on the same day when police intercepted the protesters near the Secretariat and attempted to persuade them to end their march that started from the Dhaka University. The protesters tried to break through makeshift barricades, leading to a scuffle and eventually chases and counter-chases.

Police lobbed two sound grenades and used water cannons to disperse the protesters.

Police's Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner Md Masud Alam told reporters the law enforcers are not against the protesters' demand for justice. They only asked the protesters to send a small team of representatives, instead of massing around the Secretariat and creating a chaotic situation. But the protesters refused to comply, Md Masud alleged.

Around 1pm, traffic order was restored in the area as protesters returned to Dhaka University campus.

Joyma Munmun, an ethnic minority student and a left-wing student leader from Eden Mohila College, claimed six to seven protesters were injured when police attacked a "peaceful march."

Earlier, on Thursday morning, pro-indigenous protesters held a rally at Dhaka University from where they announced a march towards the home ministry.

At least 12 people were injured when two groups of people, one seeking indigenous recognition for ethnic minorities in school textbooks and the other opposing the move, clashed near the NCTB office on Wednesday.

One woman activist was seriously injured in the clash while a journalist also sustained wounds. One injured minority female student is a central leader of Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, which led the ouster of a fascist government last year, the group claimed.

The attack is blamed on a Dhaka University student platform named "Student for Sovereignty," which claims any reference to an ethnic minority group using the term "indigenous" effectively supports pro-Indian secessionist attempts.