20 hurt as police swoop on USTC students

They were staging demonstrations including a sit-in demanding cancellation of an expulsion order issued against eight students.

Sources and witnesses said the trouble erupted when the students were staging a sit-in ahead of the scheduled arrival of the newly appointed Pro-Vice-chancellor Abdullah Al Ahsan to take office in the morning.

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Police swooped on the students as they barred the police from entering the campus. The law enforcers foiled the sit-in charging baton in two phases in and outside the campus and left twenty injured.

They also lobbed two tear gas canisters.

The students have been observing agitation programme since August 30 to realise their 14-point demand that included cancellation of an expulsion order and withdrawal of cases filed against eight students.

Later in the evening, the agitating students held a rally on Chittagong Press Club premises protesting the police attack, and called for a half-day hartal in Chittagong on Sunday.

The authorities have suspended all classes of the university till September 16.