Milestone students protest with six demands
Former and current students of Milestone School and College and the general public are protesting in the capital’s Uttara, demanding six points. They have been protesting in front of the educational institution since 11 am on Tuesday (July 22). They said, our protest is non-violent, but uncompromising. Silence against injustice means support. Now is the time to stand for justice. We want justice, not fear. Meanwhile, at around 11:30 am, a day after the Air Force fighter jet crashed, Legal Advisor Asif Nazrul and Education Advisor CR Abrar were attacked by students while visiting the scene. Immediately, the two advisors sat in a building of the school with five students for a discussion. Meanwhile, hundreds of students gathered at the roundabout in front of Milestone School and College since 10 am. The surrounding area immediately became abuzz with processions and protests. Students, who were shocked by the plane crash that took lives and injuries on their college campus a day ago, are protesting with six demands. The protesters say they cannot accept the death toll being reported. The students’ six demands are-
1. The exact names and information of the deceased must be disclosed
2. A complete and accurate list of the injured must be disclosed
3. An unconditional public apology must be made for this heinous incident of the army members raising their hands on teachers
4. The families of each student who died must be compensated by the Air Force
5. The risky and old planes used by the Air Force must be scrapped and modern planes introduced
6. The Air Force’s training methods and training centers must be changed to introduce more humane and safe systems.
Holding banners and placards like ‘We don’t want justice, we want the bodies of our children’ and ‘We want an accurate account of the bodies’, the students sat on the road at the roundabout. During this time, the police asked them to move away several times, but the students continued their sit-in peacefully. A Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed at around 1 pm on Monday (July 21). The aircraft crashed into a building of Milestone School and College in Uttara. The aircraft and the school building immediately caught fire. There were many school students in the building where it crashed. Most of them were killed. As of the latest news (Tuesday 8 am), the death toll in the plane crash has risen to 27, of which 25 are children and many are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.
