10 hurt as 'BCL attack' Student Union’s human chain

Ten people were injured as some activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) allegedly attacked the human chain of the Bangladesh Students’ Union on Sir Ashutosh Government College premises in Chattogram’s Boalkhali upazila.

Yasin Arafat, Joint Convener of Boalkhali upazila unit of BSU, said that followers of BCL leader Shimul Sarder attacked them while they were demanding end of multipronged crises that the college is facing.

Himel Chowdhury, Convener of the college unit of BSU, said they had formed the human chain protesting some longstanding issues including the quality of education and shortage of academic buildings.

“BCL activists led by the college BCL’s Joint Convener Shimul Sarder, Royal Debnath and Md Kaiyum prevented the college students from joining our program. At one stage, they assaulted us with sticks and steel pipes. Besides beating us, they also took away some of our mobile phone sets,” said Himel.

Denying the allegations, BCL leader Shimul said that no one attacked the BSU activists.

“They were trying to create anarchy in the name of a human chain. A fist-fight took place when we tried to disperse them, nothing else,” Shimul said.

Abdur Razzak, officer-in-charge (OC) of Boalkhali police station, said although a heated argument ensued between the two groups, nothing like an attack occurred.

“The situation is normal now. Police members have been deployed to thwart any untoward situation,” the OC said.