Bangladesh students riot over army presence

Bangladesh students, fed up with having the army on campus, burned a military van and damaged at least 50 other vehicles yesterday in renewed violence at Dhaka University.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Bangladesh students, fed up with having the army on campus, burned a military van and damaged at least 50 other vehicles yesterday in renewed violence at Dhaka University.

At least 150 students were hurt after police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the stone- throwing and stick-wielding students at Bangladesh's biggest university.

The army-backed interim administration, which had deployed the army in January after months of political violence, later ordered troops to quit the campus.

"The interim government deeply apologized for the incident and ordered immediate withdrawal of the army camp from the campus and an inquiry into the unfortunate incident," read a statement from the Information Ministry.

More than 100 students had been injured in clashes overnight during protests against the presence of troops at the university stadium for a football match.

Protests and street assemblies have been banned since the country's military-backed interim government took power on January 12 after months of political violence. Troops had been camping in the gymnasium since then.

The unrest, the first major defiance of the emergency restrictions, spread across campus after troops allegedly assaulted students. Hundreds of police rushed in, firing teargas and rubber bullets.

The students, demanding an immediate dismantling of the army camp on the campus, hit back with sticks and stones.

Classes and exams were postponed at the University in the wake of the violence, while students called for an indefinite strike on the 40,000-strong campus.

The Dhaka University Teachers Association said it supported student demands.

Violence flared anew yesterday as hundreds of students returned to campus carrying sticks and challenging police.

The students forced police to retreat from the campus and then burned effigies of the army chief, General Moeen Ahmed, and the interim head of the law and information ministries, Mainul Husein.

Students at Jahangirnagar University, 40 kilometers north of Dhaka, barricaded a highway for several hours and damaged a dozen vehicles. Protests also flared at Sher-e-Bangla University in Dhaka and at the country's two other major universities, Chittagong University in the south and Rajshahi University in the north. REUTERS