At Jahangirnagar University, members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) attacked a quota protestor parade.
This evening, a group of BCL activists led by Aktaruzzaman Sohel, the president of BCL’s JU section, carried out the attack in the Battoala region.
At the time this report was filed, there were reports of over 50 pupils hurt. Twenty of them were sent to a Savar private hospital after suffering serious injuries.
Rezwanur Rahman, a physician at the University Medical Center, told Prothom Alo that around 50 students sought treatment there following attacks. Because of their grave conditions, some twenty of them were sent to a private hospital in Savar.
The demonstration was held in response to attacks on students nationwide who were participating in protests and calling for quota reform.
Witnesses said that the march left the university’s central library at 6:30 p.m. with the banner “anti-discriminatory student movement” in tow. The demonstrators were attacked with crude weapons by a BCL group led by university president Aktaruzzaman as soon as the march made its way through multiple campus routes and arrived at the Bottala district. At the time of the attack, the BCL activists also molested a number of female students.
The students demonstrating said that BCL president Aktaruzzaman spearheaded the use of crude weapons to harm their nonviolent parade. Several female demonstrators were subjected to physical assault and verbal abuse by certain BCL activists.
One among the injured is Mosaddekur Rahman, the JU correspondent for Daily Jugantar. He claimed to be on official business. Nevertheless, the BCL assailants struck him in the head with blunt instruments.
The BCL activists were later pursued by the protestors around 8:25 p.m., and they took refuge inside the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Residential Hall. In an attempt to stop the quota protesters from entering the hall, the BCL activists were launching brickbats from the roof. In the meantime, the quota demonstrators have set up shop in front of the auditorium.
