Witnesses reported that members of the Students Against Discrimination movement, advocating for quota reforms in civil service jobs, blocked the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway at about 10am in support of a “complete shutdown” call.
A significant number of protesters gathered, effectively halting traffic on the highway. When police arrived to disperse the crowd, the protesters refused to leave, prompting the police to use tear gas and batons.
One of the protesters, Md Arafat, said: "We were peacefully demonstrating from the morning. The police charged at us with batons and tear gas without any provocation, injuring several of our members."
However, police have not provided any comments on the incident. Traffic in Chittagong was significantly low from the morning.
Long-distance buses were not operating on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, and there was reduced traffic on the Chittagong-Rangamati, Chittagong-Cox's Bazar and Chittagong-Khagrachhari highways. While some vehicles were operating on a few city roads, their number was much lower than usual.