Dhaka, April 16 -- Students from various polytechnic institutes have launched street protests in Dhaka and other parts of the country to press home their charter of six demands, including recognition of their diplomas as equivalent to undergraduate degrees.

Around 10:30am on Wednesday, students descended on the busy Tejgaon Saat Rasta intersection in the capital in droves, bringing traffic to a crawl and causing severe gridlock during rush hour.

Students also began pouring onto the Mirpur-10 roundabout around 12pm, choking traffic in the area, according to Mohammad Rahat Gawhari, deputy commissioner of the Mirpur Traffic Division.

The protesters, under the banner of "Karigori Chhatra Andolon Bangladesh" (Technical Students' Movement of...