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Published : 01 Sep 2025, 11:45 AM
Students at Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) are protesting the university administration’s decision to clear the residential halls.
Students from different halls marched separately to a gathering at KR Market on the campus around 9am on Monday. Female students had been seen leaving the residential halls in the morning amid tensions on the campus.
The protesters are pushing for a four-point list of demands, including justice over an attack on the protests. Their other demands include the resignation of the proctor, an apology from the vice chancellor, and assurances of security on campus.
The protesting students say they will opt for stricter protests if the administration does not accept their demands within 12 hours.
Mahid Hasan, one of the students, said: “The halls are for students, so we will remain there. Outsiders attacked us, and then an order was given for us to leave the halls. We do not want to be cowards and leave the halls. If we are to leave the halls, the teachers have to leave the campus as well.”
Another student, Jahi Hasan Juthi, said: “We are not at all willing to leave the halls. We are being forced to leave the halls under pressure from the administration. We are demanding assurances of our security.”
BAU has nine residential halls for boys and men and five for girls and women. Nearly 6,500 students live in the halls.
On Sunday, protesters had trapped nearly 200 teachers and administrative staff of the university inside a building. They were eventually set free when a group of outsiders attacked, injuring 10 people, including a journalist and students.
The BAU administration held an emergency syndicate meeting online at 9:30pm on Sunday amid the rising tensions. The university was closed indefinitely and all students were instructed to leave their residential halls by 9am on Monday.
Muhammad Shibirul Islam, chief of the Kotwali Model Police Station, said that the situation on the campus has remained tense since Sunday evening, and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police, Army, and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel have been deployed on campus.
