Bangladesh clashes leave 150 students injured

DHAKA: More than 150 students have been injured in Bangladesh during clashes at a university campus, a sign of serious discord between groups instrumental in fomenting a national revolution last year.

Tuesday afternoon’s clashes began after the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sought to recruit students at the Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in the country’s southwest.

That sparked a confrontation with campus members of Students Against Discrimination, a protest group that led the uprising that ousted autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina last August.

At least 50 people were taken for treatment after the skirmish, Khulna police officer Kabir Hossain said.

“The situation is now under control, and an extra contingent of police has been deployed,” he added.

Communications student Jahidur Rahman said that those hospitalised had injuries from thrown bricks and “sharp weapons,” and that around 100 others had suffered minor injuries. Footage of the violence showing rival groups wielding scythes and machetes, along with injured students being carted to hospital for treatment, was widely shared on Facebook.

Both groups blamed the other for starting the violence, with the BNP student wing chief Nasir Uddin Nasir accusing members of Islamist political party Jamaat of agitating the situation to force a confrontation.

Jamaat activists “created this unwarranted clash,” he said.

Local student Obayed Ullah said that the BNP had defied a decision by the campus to remain free of activities by established political parties.

He added that there was “no presence” of Jamaat on campus.

The incident provoked outrage among students elsewhere in the country, with a protest rally held late Tuesday night to condemn the BNP’s youth wing at Dhaka University.

Students Against Discrimination launched protests last year that toppled Bangladesh’s former government and chased ex-leader Hasina into exile after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.

Activists from the BNP joined with student protesters in the final days of Hasina’s tenure, defying a bloody crackdown by security forces that killed hundreds.

The BNP is widely expected to win fresh elections slated to be held by the middle of next year under the supervision of the South Asian country’s current caretaker administration.

Student leaders have meanwhile struggled to parley their success in engineering Hasina’s fall into a durable political force.