Police act tough on university students in Dhaka
The East West and BRAC universities authorities have closed the institutions after clashes between police and students demonstrating for safe roads at different places in Dhaka, reports bdnesw24.com.
After the daylong clashes at Aftabnagar in front of the East West University on Monday, its Acting Registrar Mashfiqur Rahman announced the closure for Tuesday and Wednesday in a notice.
It also postponed the summer semester final exams from Aug 9 to 11.
BRAC University Registrar Md Foyzul Islam said the university would remain closed on Tuesday and it would be counted as extension to holidays for upcoming tests.
An official of the university at Mohakhali said the authorities announced the extended holiday considering the security of students.
At Bashundhara, North South University Proctor Nazmul Ahsan Khan met the demonstrating students after the clashes and announced closure until further notice.
“We’ve reached an agreement with the police. They will let you leave safely,” he told the protesters.
But the university’s Public Relations Officer Belal Ahmed, however, told bdnews24.com in the evening that the proctor spoke about closure only to calm the students, but no notice has been issued.
Students from high schools and colleges in the capital stayed away from demonstrations on the ninth day of the movement for safe roads.
But those from different public and private universities occupied the streets at different parts of the city in the morning and eventually clashed with police and pro-government activists.
The students fought running battles with the police for around five and a half hours at Aftabnagar in front of the East West University.
Police fired teargas to disperse protesters from the North South University, American International University of Bangladesh and Independent University of Bangladesh in Bashundhara area and from the Dhaka University at Shahbagh.
Panic was created among the students of the Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology at Tejgaon when the police asked them to come out one by one after clashes.
Besides the students, journalists and police personnel were also injured in the clashes.
Additional police personnel have been deployed at many places near the universities.
