A group of students staging a protest on the Dhaka University campus was attacked yesterday allegedly by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, where one protester was injured.
The incident took place when the protesters were participating in a human chain in front of the Raju Memorial around 11:20am to protest against the university authorities’ decision to bar applicants from taking the admission test twice.
Abdul Aziz, the injured protester, who passed HSC examination this year from Dhaka College, was given primary treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The protesting students claimed that the attackers first asked them if they had DU ID cards. When they replied no, the other group chased them and locked in a clash with them, labelling them as activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e- Islami.
Mohammad Hossain, one of the protesting students, told the Dhaka Tribune: “At first, police tried to bar us from staging the demonstration in the TSC area, but we did it. But later, this group of students came to us and asked if we had university IDs. When we said we did not, they started beating us.”
The protesting students also claimed that the attackers were activists of Chhatra League’s unit in the university’s Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall.
Salman Habib, member of Socialist Students Front’s DU unit who witnessed the incident, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had seen a Chhatra League activist named Jamal on the scene, but he was not sure if it was the Chhatra League activists from Bangabandhu Hall who had launched the attack.
When contacted, Darus Salam Shakil, president of Chhatra League’s Bangabandhu Hall unit, denied the allegation of being involved in the scuffle.
“How could it be possible? I am currently in my home district Narsingdi attending a programme. I did not even know about the students’ demonstration this morning,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.
Sub-Inspector Shaheb Ali of Nilkhet police outpost, who was on the scene during the attack, said he was not sure whether the attackers were Chhatra League activists.
“I did not see any known face from Chhatra League. Most of them were first or second-year students, so I could not exactly tell if they were from the party or not,” he said.
Mohammad Habil, inspector at Shahabagh police station, also denied the protesters’ allegation against Chhatra League activists, but said the attackers could be students at DU.
DU acting proctor Professor Amzad Ali also denied the allegation, saying: “If Chhatra League had attacked the protested, they (protesters) would not have been able to stay there. They are trying to create an issue over the attack and blaming Chhatra League.”
When asked whether the attackers were students at the university, the acting proctor said he was not sure about it.
Despite the attack, the protesting students continued yesterday’s demonstration until 4pm. They also announced to hold a demonstration rally in protest of yesterday’s attack at the same venue this morning.
They also said they would submit a memorandum regarding their demands to the university’s chancellor.
