North South University closed

Staff Correspondent: North South University (NSU) has been declared shut following a clash between police and students of the university at Bashundhara residential area in the capital.

NSU Proctor Kamrul Islam confirmed the matter to risingdbd.com. on Thursday.

The proctor said, “Today all classes and examinations have been suspended and academic activities will also remain closed tomorrow. A decision will be taken later whether the academic activities will be restored on Saturday. Classes for today and tomorrow will be taken another day. Students have been asked to leave the campus.”

The authorities of Bashundhara Group and Dhaka Metropolitan Police have assured of action against security guards over the incident of beating up a student, he said.

Earlier, wielding banners and chanting slogans, hundreds of students of the university blocked the Pragati Sarani for two hours since Thursday noon, halting traffic. They demanded compensation for Shahriar Hasnat Tapu, a BBA sixth semester student, who was assaulted and now is being treated at Apollo Hospital and immediate arrest of the security guard of Bashundhara Group, who assaulted him. In the afternoon, police called on the students to leave the roads.

Defying the requests made from the police, the students threw bricks targeting police that left several injured. Police also used several tear gas canisters and threw water to disperse them.

Seeking anonymity, a ninth semester BBA student of the NSU, said, “The incident took place when Tapu and another student got involved in an argument with the Bashundhara security guards over parking a motorcycle at the Apollo Gate, an entrance to the residential area, around 10:00pm.”

“At one stage of the altercation, the guards attacked the students and Tapu received severe injuries. Later, he was taken to Apollo Hospitals where he is undergoing treatment,” he said.

In protest, the students took to the streets this morning demanding an apology from Bashundhara security guards.

The students occupied the thoroughfare for about two hours before police pushed them inside Bashundhara residential area. There, the students vandalised the Bashundhara head office.

Later, chase and counter-chase between police and the students took place in intervals. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members were at spot.

Last night, a BBA student was assaulted by security guards of Bashundhara Group, said Belal Ahmed, deputy director of the university’s Public Relation Office.

Later in the day, NSU authorities, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Bashundhara Group authorities held an emergency meeting with the students’ representatives at the university’s Proctor’s Office.

In the meeting, the Bashundhara Group and DMP authorities agreed to take appropriate actions against the accused Bashundhara security guards.

risingbd/DHAKA/March 2, 2017/Ahmed Nur/Amirul