9 hurt as cops charge baton on indigenous students
Police on Tuesday charged baton on a demonstration by indigenous students, protesting UNDP's cultural diversity festival, injuring at least nine students including two girls.
They also picked up nine students from in front of Jatiya Press Club.
Agitating students claimed, they were peacefully protesting the cultural diversity festival when police suddenly charged baton on them.
However, refuting the claim, Rezaul Karim, OC of Shahbagh Police Station, said they didn't charge baton but only picked up some students to avoid any untoward situation and freed them later on.
The festival, which started on December 4, was organised jointly by UNDP- Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility and Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs. The organisers in a concept note used terms such as 'ethnic minorities', 'small ethnic group' and 'tribal' instead of the term 'indigenous peoples'.
Indigenous student leaders protested against these terms saying they undermine rights of indigenous people.
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