Students loyal to new Chittagong Mayor Nasir clash at university, nine injured

Students loyal to Chittagong mayor-elect AJM Nasir Uddin have clashed at the university to establish their dominance within two days of the city corporation elections.

The turf war between the two factions of the Bangladesh Chhatra League’s (BCL) Chittagong University unit broke out on Thursday noon.

University police camp in-charge Sub-Inspector Abul Khayer was injured when police tried to stop the clash. His palm was slashed with a sharp weapon.

At least eight others were also injured in the clash between two BCL factions-- ‘Sixty Nine’ and ‘Banglar Mukh’.

The warring members of BCL also assaulted Sakhawat Hossain, Chittagong University correspondent of the Bangla-language daily ‘Kaler Kantho’ when he went to cover the clash.

Members of ‘Banglar Mukh’ broke his mobile phone.

Hathazari Police Station OC Mohammad Ismail told bdnews24.com that the two groups fought to establish supremacy.

He said two students, ‘Rana’ and ‘Sajid’, injured in the clash, were sent to the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital.

The other injured were given first aid at the university’s medical centre.

The organising secretary of the defunct BCL committee, Alamgir Tipu, leads the faction ‘Sixty Nine’.

The committee’s joint general secretary Riaz Irfan Chowdhury is the leader of ‘Banglar Mukh’.

Tipu said the junior members of BCL clashed following an altercation.

“We are trying to settle the issue,” he said.

He alleged that ‘Banglar Mukh’ members had beaten up Rana and Sajid of ‘Sixty Nine’.

‘Banglar Mukh’ leader Soumen Palit Babu said ‘Sixty Nine’ members had been threatening the junior members of his group after the city polls, provoking the clash.

He claimed five members of his group had been injured.

Police and BCL leaders of the two groups defused the situation around 3pm but a running battle resumed after 4:30pm.

Police chased ‘Banglar Mukh’ members out of the campus afterwards.

‘Sixty Nine’ members took shelter in Shahjalal and Shah Amanat residential halls.

The university has become a battleground between rival BCL factions loyal to Awami League’s Chittagong city unit President ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury for a long time.

On the Martyred Intellectuals Day on Dec 14, 2014, second-year Sanskrit Honours student Tapash Sarker was shot dead in a clash between two groups - CFC and VX.