Police put forward baton charges in an attempt to disperse a rally by the fourth-year students of BM College in Barisal city yesterday, which left at least five people injured, including two journalists.
Students from 18 departments of the college came together to join the rally to protest the increase of examination fees.
The injured – economics students Uzzal Kumar and Palash Khan, English student Avijit Roy, and photo journalists Fuad Islam and Tanmoy Das of local dailies Barisal Protidin and Kalomer Kantho, respectively – were given first aid treatment at different pharmacies in the city.
Condemning the police attack, the agitated students threatened to lock all the departments in the college today.
The students alleged that the college authority increased the fees to Tk4,500 from Tk3,300 without giving a reason or a prior notice.
Sharmin Jahan Popy, one of the protesting students, said they had cordoned off the principal’s office yesterday morning to press home their demands.
The college authority then sat down with the students and agreed to subtract Tk200 from the portion due for the college.
However the principal said they did not have the authority to reduce the portion fixed by National University.
Coming out of the meeting, the students blocked the road in front of the college campus.
Upon receiving information, police went to the scene and dispersed the demonstrating students by chasing them away and charging at them with batons, and cleared the road for traffic movement after about an hour of blockage, said witness A B Siddik, a student of the college.
Professor Fazlul Huq, the principal, said National University had increased Tk50 for each paper, so the amount of total examination fees increased by Tk500-800 per subject.
However, the college authority decided to decrease at least Tk200 from the fees for the college, but could not assure that the portion of the fees fixed by National University would be reduced, he added.
The university authority had been informed about the students’ agitation, and form fill-up will be held from June 23 to 26, the principal said.
Shakhawat Hossain, OC of Kotwali police station, said any student movements on academic issues should be confined to the campus without hampering life outside.
Police interfered only after the students blocked the road, stopping vehicular movement on the busy roads and refused to go back inside the campus area, the OC told the Dhaka Tribune.
When asked about the beating of the two photo journalists, the police officer said they were students of the college and had participated in the movement without identifying themselves as journalists.
