Abrar murder: Students confine Buet VC
-- Placed 7-point demand
-- Buet teachers express solidarity
-- Ex-students join demo
-- Protest sparked at different universities
The agitating students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) confined the university vice chancellor this evening demanding punishment to the killers of their fellow Abrar Fahad.
Several hundred students besieged the office of VC Prof Dr Saiful Islam around 5:00 pm keeping him inside the office to press home their eight-point demand including punishment for the killers and expulsion of the accused from the engineering university.
Amid protest, the VC came out of the office around 6:00 pm and assured the students to meet their demands. The But the agitating students said they did not let him go out of the office as the VC could not give any clear assurance to meet their demands.
Then, Prof Saiful went back inside his office as he failed to convince the protesters, reports our staff correspondent from the spot.
The agitating students, who were demonstrating for the second consecutive day, threatened to stay there keeping the VC inside his office until they do get the specific assurance to meet their demands.
Other demands include holding trial under Speedy Trial Tribunal and bearing expenditure for conducting the legal procedure by the university administration.
Later, the students withdraw their demonstration for today and left the VC office around 9:35 pm, the campus sources said.
Earlier, they also threatened to stage indefinite sit-in programme on the campus if the university vice-chancellor does not hold talks with them by 5:00 pm today.
As VC Prof Dr Saiful Islam did not meet the protesters by the deadline, the agitating students then confined him in his office. They also locked the main entrance of the university this afternoon.
The students also urged the university authorities to shut all kinds of academic and administrative activities including first-year admission test until police pressed charge sheet to court in Abrar murder case.
In the morning, nearly 400 students brought out a procession in the campus and staged demonstration in front of the university Shaheed Minar. They also besieged the students’ halls and teachers’ quarters in the morning.
Teachers' Association of Buet expressed solidarity with the students' movement.
Besides, students of different universities also staged demonstration on their respective campus protesting the murder of Abrar Fahad.
In Rajshahi University, more than 100 students staged demonstration on the campus.
The students under the banner of ‘General Students of RU’also brought out procession this morning and later held a protest rally demanding the capital punishment of the killers.
In Jahangirnagar University, students blocked Dhaka-Aricha highway protesting the murder of Abrar.
In Sylhet, students, under the banner of ‘Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Sanrakshan Parishad, brought out a procession and formed a human chain demanding the punishment to the killers of Abrar.
In Cumilla, general people and students of different educational institutions including Cumilla University formed a human chain in front of Cumilla town hall around 10:00 am demanding punishment of the killers.
In Bogura, Bangladesh Chhatra Union of Bogura unit formed a human chain in Satmatha area of the town around 12:00noon with the same demand.
Abrar, a second-year student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering department of Buet, died after he was beaten allegedly by some Chhatra League men brutally at a dormitory of the university between 7:00 pm Sunday and 2:30 am yesterday.
The incident triggered a firestorm of protests on campuses across the country. Many took to social media to demand justice for Abrar.
Law enforcers suspect, Abrar was attacked because of one of his recent Facebook posts, which seemed to be critical of some recent deals with India.