Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University students block China Moitree signal again over old research field, campus shutdown continues
More than a thousand students of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University have blocked a road again demanding the return of their old research field. On Wednesday (November 4) at around 11am they marched from in front of the university's flag stand, took position at the China Moitree signal and held a road blockade there.
Alongside the blockade, the protesters announced they would burn an effigy in front of the Public Works complex in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on the same day.
Earlier, at a discussion meeting between teachers and students on Tuesday, the students announced a boycott of examinations at all levels and said they would not join any class after 11am. Later that night, at around 10pm, protesting students of all batches gathered at the university TSC premises and announced an indefinite shutdown of the university.
Following the shutdown announcement, academic activities at all levels of the university have remained suspended since Wednesday, according to the protesters' programme.
The students began their movement on October 27, claiming the old trade fair ground as the university's own property and demanding its handover. On that day they seized soil-testing equipment and vehicles being used for secretariat construction work on the field and brought them onto the campus.
The following day, after issuing an ultimatum to close the fair, incidents of vandalism took place at installations on the field.
The students then blocked a road on October 29. On the same day, State Minister for Youth and Sports Md Aminul Haque announced the suspension of all fairs, including the National Youth Fair.
However, protesting that the installations on the field had not been removed and that a case had been filed against unnamed students, the protesters took possession of the field itself on November 2 as a final step. Continuing that movement, they sat in blockade at the China Moitree signal again on Wednesday.
