DHAKA: Bangladeshi police on Thursday released from custody six student leaders whose protest campaign against civil service job quotas sparked deadly nationwide riots last month, a senior officer told AFP.
The group last month organized a rally against civil service job quotas that turned deadly after a police crackdown. According to AFP figures from police and hospital data, 206 people were killed during the days of unrest.
“All six quota movement coordinators have been returned to their families this afternoon,” Deputy Commissioner Junaed Alam Sarkar said.
Police have detained leading members of Students Against Discrimination, including leader Nahid Islam, over the past week.
He and two others were forcibly released from a hospital in the capital Dhaka last Friday by plainclothes detectives and taken to an unknown destination.
His father, Badrul Islam, told AFP that Nahid returned home on Thursday afternoon, but gave no further details.
Three others were detained in the following days, with the government saying at the time that they had been detained for their own safety.
Justice Minister Anisul Huq told AFP on Thursday that all six had voluntarily submitted to police custody.
“They came here willingly and came back willingly,” he said.
