Several students at Chittagong University held a human chain on campus on Sunday, demanding the revocation of the suspension of nine female students and the resignation of the university's proctor, Dr Tanvir Mohammad Hayder Arif
In protest against the suspension and what they called the proctor's "indecent" comments, activists from various active campus organizations joined the human chain in solidarity.
The protesters also chanted slogans like "Justice must be given, it must be given," and "We will not accept this mockery of expulsion."
Jaggul Ahmed, spokesperson of the Students' Alliance for Democracy, said: "The university is embarrassed today due to the proctor's controversial Facebook post. Because of you (proctor), the university's reputation has been tarnished. You should apologize or resign.
"The students brought down your colleagues; do not bring your own fall. The expulsion orders for the students must be revoked immediately."
Ronal Chakma, president of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Students' Association, said: "The expulsion orders must be revoked immediately."
On Thursday, a meeting of CU's Board of Residence, Health, and Discipline Committee suspended 12 students for various terms due to physical assault on the assistant proctor and "religious offence."
Earlier, on the night of February 5, at around 11:30pm, there was a confrontation between students and the university's proctorial staff in front of the Janonetri Sheikh Hasina Hall.
Some students had attempted to vandalize a boat-shaped seating structure placed outside the hall, which led to a dispute with the resident female students.
Journalists who were filming the incident were also allegedly harassed during this time.
The female students claimed they were not against the boat being broken; rather, they had requested the administration to dismantle it.
They said they had sent a letter to the administration in advance to inform them about the matter.
However, the administration did not take any action to dismantle the boat, and instead, a group of students attempted to break it in the middle of the night, leading to inappropriate behaviour toward the female students, they claimed. This is why they had protested, they added.
