CU students protest accommodation crisis, lock administrative building gates in protest

Students say the university residential halls are failing to accommodate the large number of students

Students of Chittagong University (CU) have staged a sit-in demanding university accommodation for all students, locking three gates of the administrative building in protest.

The protest began around 2pm on Sunday, when demonstrators padlocked the main entrance along with two other gates of the building.

Al Masnun, a leader of Bangladesh Democratic Students Council, told bdnews24.com that accommodation shortage is a long-standing problem for CU students.

“The number of students far exceeds the available residential facilities. Accommodation is our right,” he said.

He alleged that despite repeated complaints, the university administration had taken no steps to address the crisis.

“We have seen many students staying illegally in the halls who were not allocated seats on merit. We will not tolerate this anymore. As a protest, students have locked the gates of the administrative building,” he said.

Acting registrar Saiful Islam acknowledged the incident, saying: “A few students came and padlocked the gates of the administrative building. I don’t think their way of protesting was appropriate.”

Jashad Zakir, president of the Revolutionary Student Unity at CU, said: “We came here as students. We have submitted letters and memorandums to the administration multiple times, but they have ignored our demands. That is why we locked the administrative building, so the authorities are compelled to listen.”

As of 7pm on Sunday, the student sit-in continued.