Private university students call off protest

They are set to hold a joint press conference with ‘Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad’ in the afternoon

The private university committee of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement has suspended the protest scheduled at different private universities and decided to hold a joint press conference with the Bangladesh Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad or Bangladesh Democratic Students Union on Thursday evening.

The committee’s Convenor MJH Monju confirmed the decision to bdnews24.com saying: "We have postponed ‘our’ programme for today. We made the decision at 8am. The next programme is a press conference with the new student group at 4pm."

On Wednesday, the two sides clashed at Dhaka University’s Madhu’s Canteen over the emergence of the newly formed student organisation “Bangladesh Gonotantrik Chhatra Sangsad”, which came out of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

A group of students, who were staging a sit-in outside the Madhu’s Canteen, were shouting slogans demanding the private university students’ inclusion in the organisation.

The other side demanded the announcement of the group keeping the draft committee intact.

At one stage, a scuffle broke out between the two sides.

The private university students announced protests at different private universities on Thursday to demand justice for the attack on private university students at Dhaka University and warned of a “Dhaka Blockade” programme the following day if their demands are not met.

Private university student Nayeem Abedin, a member of the central executive committee of the Anti-discrimination Movement, and Monju made the announcement by blocking the road outside the Student Movement’s central office in Dhaka’s Banglamotor on Wednesday night. They left the street at 11pm.

Nayeem said at the time, “They are forming a new student organisation after treading on the blood of private university students. They became advisors because of the blood shed by private university students. But the leadership from private universities has always been deprived.”