Boycotting all classes and examinations, students of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) staged a demonstration yesterday demanding the immediate arrest and punishment of outsiders who allegedly staged a showdown on the campus on Monday evening.
Campus sources said some activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Mymensingh district unit led by its president Md Jasim Uddin with around 20-25 motorbikes staged showdown on the campus on Monday around 6pm. They also exploded two crude bombs and fired two rounds of bullets in front of the Shaheed Nazmul Ahsan Hall.
Protesting the incident, students staged a ‘sit-in’ in front of Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Md Rafiqul Hoque’s residence, around 9:30pm. The agitated students declared a boycott all classes and examinations until arrest of the miscreants.
They later withdrew their sit-in as the university administration assured them of the arrest the culprits within 24 hours, the sources further said.
Meanwhile, boycotting classes some 1,500 students under the banner ‘Sharbostarer Chhatra Janata’ formed a human chain.
Different political students’ organisations, including BCL, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front and Chhatra Union unit of the BAU expressed their solidarity with their demand.
They also demanded foolproof security for students, teachers and staff of the university.
The aggravated students blamed the university authority’s negligence for the frequent attacks and armed showdown by outsiders, sources said.
They vowed to continue the agitation until the hoodlums are brought to book.
The BCL Mymensingh district unit President Md Jasim Uddin refuted the allegation and said: “I did not go through university’s hall road yesterday.”
He also claimed that when some of my men went through the dormitory road to attend a programme near university area, some BCL followers of the university unit tried to attack them by blasting hand-made bombs and firing bullets.
But BAU unit BCL President Md Mursheduzzaman Khan Babu blamed the district unit BCL for recent unrest on the campus.
“The BCL district unit is trying to establish supremacy and create an anarchy on the campus by hampering the security of the common students,” he said.
BAU Proctor Prof Dr Md Harun-ur Rashid said, “We have already discussed the overall security on the campus with the district administration.”
Additional police personnel were deployed at different points on the campus, the BAU proctor added.
