Stamford University
60 injured in cop-student clash in city
At least 60 people including law enforcers were injured in hour-long clashes between police and students of Stamford University Bangladesh in the capital over an incident of barring a student from taking part in midterm examination.
Around 20 injured students took first aid in the university medical centre and at a local hospital, said university sources.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ramna police station Shiblee Noman said around 40 police persons received injuries in the brickbats hurling.
He also said they picked 17 students up to the police station suspecting their involvement in vandalism and clash.
The eyewitnesses said the angry students of Siddheswari campus of the university vandalised two private cars, offices and rooms of different faculties including vice chancellor’s (VC) room, and set some furniture on fire.
They kept confined officials and teachers at around 10:30am after the authorities barred a student of Department of Film and Media named Mithun from taking part in the exams.
The agitating students demonstrated protesting the authorities move at that time when examinations of different departments were on, they said.
The sources also said the students shut the main gate of the university before the members of law enforcement agencies reached the spot at around 1:00pm.
Police and Rab lobbed tear shell canisters and brickbats. The situation continued till 4:30pm when the law enforcement agencies entered into the university by breaking the lock at the main gate, and brought the situation under control within few minutes by charging baton.
Though all the female and other students came out of the campus at that time, police kept around 200 students inside.
Around a hundred of anxious guardians and parents were seen waiting outside the campus since the incident.
VC Prof Md Majibur Rahman alleged that the student Mithun with the help of some other students took the university officials hostage at around 10:30am as he was barred from taking the exams because of not paying a due of around Tk 80,000.
But some of the agitating students said Mithun had some dues of only few thousand.
Moreover, the accounts section insulted him in presence of his father which prompted them to demonstrate.
OC Shiblee Noman said they had to fire 18 rounds of tear shell to disperse the gathering to control the situation.
