9 hurt as police attack students at Dhaka Univ

DU Correspondent
The police on Sunday attacked Dhaka University students protesting against the increased price of admission forms. At least nine students were injured.
The protests and the clash suspended the sales of the admission forms for about six hours and the university authorities could resume sales at around 2:00pm after they had acceded to the Progressive Students’ Alliance demand for keeping the admission form price same for 10 years.
Although sale of the forms was scheduled to start at 9:00am, it was halted because of demonstrations by the Progressive
Students’ Alliance, a combine of left-leaning student organisations, against the increased price of the forms.
The demonstrators chanted slogans and tried to convince the admission seekers not to buy admission forms and at about 11:00am they sat in front the main gate of the Janata Bank at the Teacher-Student Centre and closed it.
Hundreds of admission seekers and their guardians were waiting for almost four hours as many of them wanted to buy the forms in spite of higher cost as they thought it was rational to increase the price. ‘We are depressed by this situation as we think it is rational to increase the price. Many of us have come from far places like Uttara and Badda. So, it is tough for us to come again another day,’ said Mitul, who went there to collect forms.
As the activists of the combine, in accordance with their scheduled programme, besieged the university branches of Sonali, Agrani and Janata banks and obstructed the sales of forms, the police charged at them with truncheons, which led to clashes between the lawmen and the students.
Sangeeta Barai, Sohel Rana, Biplob Mandal, Mumtahina, Sohan Sobhan, Rahat Ahmed, Rajib Iqbal, Liton and Rokhsana, all students of Dhaka University, were injured in the clash.
After the clash, the authorities held a meeting with the leaders of the combine at noon in the office of the vice-chancellor.
At the meeting, the combine, however, reached a compromise deal with the authorities: the price of a form, which was Tk 250 in 2007 but had been raised by Tk 50, would be Tk 300 and the price would not be increased in the next 10 years.
The leaders announced the decision after the meeting with the vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, in the afternoon.
The leaders said the vice-chancellor had assured them that all the other fees would be set at an acceptable and reasonable rate.
When they were asked about what their position would be if the next administration violates the promise, the Bangladesh Chhatra Union president, Khan Asaduzzaman Masum, evaded the question and said the university authorities would need to keep their word as three of the deans and the proctor attended the meeting.
Arts dean Sadrul Amin, social sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid, business studies dean Abbas Ali Khan and proctor Feroz Ahmed were present at the meeting with the student leaders.
Fifteen were, meanwhile, injured as madrassah students, who tried to lay siege to the Janata Bank branch on the Dhaka University campus on Sunday to stop the sales of admission forms, clashed with the police.
The madrassah students, joined in by the students of Arabic, Persian and Urdu departments at the university, on Saturday vandalised the vice-chancellor’s office after they had met the vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, and demanded that the admission rules should be changed.
The university authorities late Saturday night suspended two university students for their involvement in the vandalism of the vice-chancellor’s office.