CU Correspondent :
A tense situation has gripped Chittagong University (CU) campus following a clash between police and a section of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists who were observing an indefinite strike on four-point demands including the release of the six BCL activists in an arms case and the withdrawal of all political cases since 2015, the withdrawal of Officer-In-Charge Belal Uddin Zahangir from Hathazari Police Station and the resignation of CU Proctor on Sunday.
The clash started yesterday at 12 noon. Police fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas shells whereas Chhattra League leaders and activists threw bricks on police. The entire campus became a battleground with a chase and counter-attack. Police detained two BCL men from the spot. The detainees are identified as Muklasur Rahman of Communication and Journalism Department under 2014-15 academic session and Ramjan Ali of Anthropology Department of the same session. Twenty BCL activists and some cops were injured in the clash.
The injured are identified as Golam Azam of the Management Department, Firozul Karim of the department of Sociology, Faisal Ahmed of Political Science Department, Siraj of the English Department, Azad of History Department and Anik Mahmud of Islamic Studies Department. All of them are as second-year students. Besides, two employees of Salam Store Abdul Aziz and Jamal Uddin were also injured in the incident. The injured police members are Sharif, Sabbir, Farid Ahmed and Aminur Rashid.
No class and examination yesterday were held.
According to the sources, earlier in the morning, the BCL men brought out processions on the campus. They fired wood and stopped transport.
Auto-rickshaws and the train communication from Sholoshohor in Chittagong to CU were snapped. A group of BCL men locked the main gate and gathered there with chanting slogans. At around 11 am, the senior leaders of BCL came to the gate and University authority asked them to suspend the demonstration and to hold the meeting with the Vice-Chancellor. But the leaders and activists remained steadfast in their position. At that time, they were giving slogans with call to the Vice-Chancellor to come here.
At one stage, the Additional Superintendent of Police of Chittagong District (North) Mashiuddowla Reza requested the BCL activists to disperse and said that the police administration would co-operate on the case and release. The BCL activists did not satisfy with that.After that, police opened the gate and threw water and beat BCL men when they pushed the police in the gate. Afterward, the BCL activists were dispersed. At that time, the Police fired rubber bullet and tear gas from Zero Point and BCL activists threw bricks at the police station on the streets of Shah Jalal Hall.
The former Vice-President of CU BCL Enamul Haque Arafat alleged that police intentionally fired on us.
Additional Police Superintendent of Chittagong Mashiuddowla Reza said that the situation is peaceful.
Contracted, CU Proctor Ali Asgar Chowdhury said;”some BCL men were arrested in connection with arms case. Today, a section of BCL men were observing strike but afterward they were trying to create violence on campus. Police dispersed them”
