Bangladesh Agricultural University: Students vacating halls, a section to continue movement

Following the declaration of an indefinite closure of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, a section of students has begun vacating their residential halls.

The university administration instructed all students to leave the halls by 9:00am today, Monday.

At around 7:30am, the situation on campus appeared tense, with police and Rapid Action Battalion personnel stationed at the main entrance.

In front of July 36 Hall and Begum Rokeya Hall, female students were seen leaving with their bags and books. Three female students stated that the attack by outsiders on students at night, Sunday, was deplorable.

They added that staying in the halls could lead to further problems and due to family pressure, they were compelled to leave.

In front of Ashraful Haque Hall, at least five male students remarked that a similar midnight eviction notice had been issued prior to the fall of the Awami League government in July last year.

They claimed that history was repeating itself and that new forms of autocracy were emerging on campus, which prompted the sudden night-time order to vacate.

Earlier, at 10:30pm on Sunday night, students rejected the directive to vacate the halls and presented four demands. They are: the single degree system, namely the continuation of the combined degree, must be upheld; the entire proctorial body must resign for allowing outsiders to attack students; the Vice-Chancellor must publicly apologise for incidents involving outsiders detonating explosives, vandalising the library and facilities and attacking students with local weapons.

There must be a firm assurance that such incidents will not occur again and teachers involved in these attacks must face exemplary punishment.

Students announced the commencement of a programme at 8:00am on Monday to press home their demands.

They stated that at 8:00am, students from every hall would gather at the university’s KR Market, where the programme would be observed.

A blackout programme across the university was also declared, under which no student from any faculty would attend classes, examinations, or participate in any academic activities until their demands were met.

At 9:00am, students from Mowlana Bhashani Hall staged a procession on campus, carrying sticks and chanting slogans demanding justice for the previous night’s attacks and protesting against the decision to vacate the halls. Simultaneously, students from other halls also began marching towards KR Market.

Following the attack on students by outsiders the previous night, members of the army, BGB, RAB and police patrolled the campus throughout the night. In a statement issued at 11:05pm on Sunday, the BGB announced that, upon request from the deputy commissioner, they had been deployed at 10:10pm to the Bangladesh Agricultural University area to support the civil administration in bid to control the situation, alongside the army, police and other law enforcement agencies.

Students alleged that individuals carried out the assault on those from the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and the Faculty of Veterinary Science, who had been demonstrating for the continuation of the combined degree.

The attack reportedly took place at around 7:45pm on Sunday evening. In protest, the students had confined the Vice-Chancellor and over two hundred teachers inside the Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Auditorium from 1:00pm onwards that day.

Commenting on the incident late Sunday night, the University Proctor, Professor Abdul Alim, stated, “I was one of the last to leave. Upon exiting, I saw several people holding sticks. I could not ascertain whether they were outsiders or university staff, as it was already late at night.”