Quota reform protesters ‘attacked by BCL’ at JU; hall provost resigns

A group of protesting students of Jahangirnagar University were allegedly attacked by Chhatra League men early today.

The protesters alleged that BCL leaders and activists of Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall unit carried out the attack at around 3:00am.

After the incident, the hall provost Professor Nazmul Hasan Talukder resigned.

Around 9:00pm on Sunday, students from different halls started chanting slogans including "Chaite gelam odhikar, hoye gelam rajakar". They gathered at the Bottola area on the campus around 11:30pm.

At that time, an allegation surfaced that BCL leaders and activists blocked two protestors in the Rabindranath hall. The protesters took positions in front of the hall to free them around 12:30am.

The protesters requested the provost to show CCTV footage of the hall to identify those involved in the incident. Later, Nazmul Hasan sat in a closed-door meeting with some BCL leaders. Students were still protesting in front of different halls and on the campus.

Around 1:30am, the protesters started demonstrating on different roads of the campus. When the procession reached in Rabindranath hall around 2:15am, BCL activists obstructed and took position face to face. At this time, tensions between the two sides flared.

Witnesses said some teachers, including university proctor Prof Mohammad Alamgir Kabir, tried to stop both sides. At that time, the BCL leaders and activists called the protesters Jamaat-Shibir and abused the female students, witnesses said.

Ignoring the barricades, the BCL activists chased the students around 3:45am. Later, when the protesters went to the hall gate, BCL activists attacked them. Video footage of the attack went viral on social media.

The protesters accused the hall provost of instigating the BCL men. The provost Nazmul Hasan denied the allegation.

A senior leader of Rabindranath Tagore hall and the JU unit Finance Secretary of BCL, Touhidul Alam Takid, said, "The protesters came in front of our hall and chanted slogans insulting Liberation War, Bangabandhu, and Chhatra League in the name of quota reform. They mistreated us and stopped us when we attempted to leave in a peaceful procession. We treated them with enough respect, so they weren't attacked. We were ambushed as we were returning to the hall."

Co-Vice-Chancellor (Education) Prof Muhammad Mostafa Feroze will meet with the protesters later today to talk about the incident.