Private university students have dropped their plans for holding mass demonstrations against the central committee of a new student organisation, and attacks on the students at Dhaka University on Wednesday.
On Thursday, M JH Monju, a key leader of the private university wing of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, announced the decision in a Facebook post, following late-night discussions among the student leaders of last year’s mass uprising.
Private university students were protesting against what they claim was a “Dhaka University monopoly” and the complete marginalisation of private university students in the new student body: Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad.
On Wednesday night, the private university students, who played a leading role in waging anti-fascist protests last year in the capital, announced protest rallies at all private university campuses on Thursday and a “Dhaka Blockade” demonstration on Friday.
They demanded the dissolution of the Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad committee and punishment for attacks on the students at the Dhaka University campus area on Wednesday afternoon.
Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad, formed Wednesday to advance the uprising’s goals, does not include any private university student at the policymaking level, the private university students alleged.
On Wednesday afternoon, during the launch of the new organisation at Dhaka University, a scuffle erupted between supporters of the new organisation’s nominated leaders and a group of private university students. The “fistfight” left eight private university students injured and some among them were hospitalised.
Bd-pratidin English/Fariha Nowshin Chinika
