City Desk :
Students at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) have left their residential halls under instructions from the university administration.
Students from different halls could be seen leaving on Monday morning as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police, Army, and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were deployed on campus.
On Sunday, a daylong protest pushing for a list of demands had prevented around 200 teaching and administrative staff of the university, including the vice chancellor, from leaving an auditorium.
Outsiders then attacked the protest, injuring 10 people, including journalists and students.
An emergency syndicate meeting at 9:30pm on Sunday decided to close the university indefinitely and ordered students to leave their halls by 9am on Monday.
Tasfia Afrin, a student staying at July 36 Hall, set off for home at around 7:30am on Monday. At that time, she said, “Our exams were under way. We will lose out due to the sudden closure of the university”, reports bdnews24.com.
Students of the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Faculty of Animal Husbandry had been protesting for about a month demanding a combined degree that merged the degrees offered by the two faculties.
As the issue was not resolved in an Academic Council meeting on Sunday, the students locked the Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Auditorium around 1pm, locking up about 200 teachers and officials, including the vice-chancellor.
Mymensingh Deputy Commissioner Mofidul Alam, district Superintendent of Police Kazi Akhtar ul Alam, and other local administration officials rushed to the scene to resolve the issue.
However, the students remained adamant in their demands.
Then, around 7:30pm, 250-300 outsiders with makeshift weapons chased the students from the vice-chancellor’s residence. When the students dispersed, the outsiders broke the locks and allowed the trapped teachers and administrative staff to leave. At least 10 people, including journalist and students, were injured in the attack.
Muhammad Shibirul Islam, chief of the Kotwali Model Police Station, said that the situation on the campus has remained tense since Sunday evening. Security forces, including the RAB, police, and Army had been deployed on the campus along with the BGB.
