'BCL men' attack JCD members at DU; 3 journos assaulted

Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists allegedly attacked the members of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) on Dhaka University campus and also beat up three journalists when they were filming the incident.

Nine JCD activists were injured in the attack took place in front of Shoparjito Shadhinota premises around 12:30pm, our DU correspondent reports.

According to the witnesses, newly-elected General Secretary of Central JCD Iqbal Hossain Shaymal, accompanied by some other activists, went to Hakim Chattar on the campus in the afternoon but BCL DU unit President Sanjib Chandra Sarker asked them to immediately leave the campus.

As the JCD activists reached Shoparjito Shadhinota premises, some BCL activists, wielding rods and sticks, swopped on them, leaving nine activists injured.

The injured are Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall’s Joint Secretary of JCD Khorshed Alam Sohel, and organisation’s activists Kamrul, Firoz, Shahin, Masum, Mahbub Shahin, Fahim, Shajal and Nayan.

They were whisked off to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Among them, Shohel and Kamrul are in critical condition, JCD President Fazlur Rahman Khokon claimed.

All of them were activists of different hall units, said our DU correspondent.

3 journos attacked by ‘BCL men’

Meanwhile, BCL activists beat up three campus journalists while they were filming the incident. They were -- Rahatul Islam Rafi of daily Potidiner Sangbad, Afsar Munna of Business Bangla and Anisur Rahman of Student Journal.

Primarily, the journalists identified four BCL activists who carried out the attack. They were ---Shariful Islam Shofu, joint secretary of Masterda Surya Sen Hall; Hossain Mahmud Appel, vice president of Sir AF Rahman Hall; Mohsin Alam Talukdar, deputy office secretary of Kobi Jashim Uddin Hall and Abdullah Al Fariyal, vice president of Bijoy Ekattor Hall.

Expressing sorrow over the attack, BCL DU unit President Sanjib claimed some “over-enthusiastic” BCL activists might have carried out the attack.

“Every organisation has their right to conduct their political activities on the campus through a democratic system,” he said, adding that they would identify the attackers soon and will take organsational action in this regard.