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| April 18, 2006 | Tuesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427 |
Bangladesh media protest
CHITTAGONG, April 17: Some 200 Bangladeshi journalists staged a protest on Monday against alleged violence by police during the current Test match against Australia.
More than a dozen journalists were injured on Sunday when police used batons to disperse them after arguments broke out about entry to the stadium in the southeastern city on the first day of the game.
Photographer Anurup Titu suffered head injuries from a police baton and underwent surgery, said hospital doctor Delwar Hossain.
On Monday, colleagues took to the streets and rallied at the Chittagong Press Club. Many ignored the second day of the Test match.
“We want justice. There will be no coverage of Australia-Bangladesh cricket series if we don't get justice,” the president of the Chittagong Union of Journalists, Shahidul Alam, told the rally.
Newspapers gave front-page coverage to Sunday's attack but boycotted the news of the Test on Monday.
“Police barbarism at Chittagong stadium,” the mass-circulation Bengali daily Samakal said in its lead headline.
Police on Monday suspended one officer for his alleged involvement in the incident, Chittagong police chief Mazedul Huq said.
However police in a statement Monday blamed the journalists for “physically manhandling senior police officers and cricket officials” as the spark for the incident.
Meanwhile, nearly 300 local media representatives took to the streets in Dhaka on Monday to protest the police attack on colleagues in the Chittagong Stadium.
The press box at the stadium was empty except a handful covering for foreign media after the Bangladesh Sports Reporters Association called for a boycott of the Test and the three one-dayers which follow later in the month.—Agencies
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