Public university teachers across Bangladesh demonstrate over RU professor murder

Public university teachers across the country stayed away from classes for three hours on Monday to protest the recent murder of a Rajshahi University professor.

Dhaka University Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 2 May 2016, 09:44 AM
Updated : 2 May 2016, 09:47 AM

AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, who taught English, was hacked to death near his home in Rajshahi on Apr 23 and the attack was reportedly claimed by the Islamic State.

Wearing black bands, teachers at all public universities started their three-hour 'stay-off-work' protest from 10am.

Dhaka University teachers staged a sit-in protest on the campus as part of the protest called by the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Associations (FBUTA).

“Secular individuals, including university teachers, are being killed in targeted attacks. The spate of killing university teachers which started in 1971 still continues,” FBUTA Secretary General ASM Maksud Kamal told bdnews24.com.

Kamal, who teaches at the Dhaka University, called for a total reform of the police and urged the government to form a ‘monitoring cell’ to stop such targeted killings.

He said that the FBUTA will hold a protest rally at the Rajshahi University campus on Tuesday and on Wednesday and then submit a memorandum to the home minister.