More videos of CU students being hacked and beaten surface
A video has been circulating on Facebook since Sunday night showing a student, surrounded by the local people, was seen begging for mercy. The locals were seen beating him with sticks on his waist and back indiscriminately.
A man was even seen charging with a machete towards the student. However, he somehow managed to run away and saved his life.
Later, it was found that the video was recorded during the clash between Chittagong University (CU) students and villagers at around 1:30 pm that day.
In the footage, three people are seen beating a student. One of them was carrying a sharp weapon, while the other two had sticks. The attacked student was wearing a full-sleeve jersey, the kind usually made by students for various inter-departmental sports at the university.
Four more similar videos have surfaced. Locals were seen beating CU students indiscriminately with sticks. Students were also seen engaging in the clash with sticks.
In one of the videos, a student was seen grounded while being beaten up by several local residents. His head was bleeding. The student had a bag on his shoulder. Some of the locals had machetes with them. However, it could not be confirmed whether that student was stabbed by them.
Another video shows a student in white shirt being thrown away from the 1st floor. This video was captured from an adjacent building. The video shows a student falling after being kicked by a local resident. Some threw brickbats at him even after he fell.
In another video, eight to ten people are seen chasing someone into a paddy field and beating him. However, it could not be confirmed whether the person being attacked was a student.
Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this around 1:00 pm Monday, Hathazari police station officer-in-charge (OC) Abu Kawser said no case has been filed over the clash so far. The police have not recorded any complaint in writing either. They would take legal action once they get any complaint.
Asked about this, CU acting registrar professor Mohammad Saiful Islam told Prothom Alo that they are preparing to lodge three cases over the incident. Already a draft has been prepared.
He further said that one of these cases will be filed over the attack on students and another will be for damaging university properties. The authorities will provide details about the third case later.
Earlier, the CU students and locals from the Jobra village adjacent to the campus, locked into a clash which lasted from 12:00 am to 3:00 am Sunday in phases injuring at least 220 people from both sides. Nearly 200 of them were students.
The clash broke out when news spread that the watchman of a rented house on campus had assaulted a female student. The university’s pro–vice-chancellor Mohammad Shamim Uddin Khan, Mohammad Kamal Uddin, proctor Tanvir Mohammad Haider Arif, and other teachers tried to calm both sides, but to no avail. Almost immediately, brickbats were exchanged between the two groups.
There was a chase between the two sides in several phases. They also threw brickbats at each other. The students were armed with rods, pipes, wooden sticks, and stones, while the villagers had machetes, rods, and pipes.
Jobra village turned into a battlefield, and the clashes eventually spread into the village’s narrow lanes. Many students got trapped in those lanes and beaten.
Wounded students were taken one after another to the university medical centre after being stabbed by sharp weapons.
At around 2:00 pm yesterday, the Hathazari Upazila administration imposed Section 144 in the university area.
Meanwhile, two students, who sustained critical injuries, are undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital in the city. Another student was sent to Dhaka for treatment.