BCL, Shibir clash at CU

Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir clashed on the Chittagong University campus yesterday, leaving at least 15 students injured and 150 rooms of two halls vandalised and ransacked.

Twelve of the injured were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) with cuts and bruises, said Dr Jahir Ahmed, a doctor of CU Medical Centre.

The clash started when BCL activists were playing cricket on the playground of Alaol Hall, known as a stronghold of Shibir.

Leaders of both students bodies accused each other of attacking first.

Witnesses and journalists who were on the stop during the clash said BCL men vandalised and ransacked at least 150 rooms of Alaol Hall and AF Rahman Hall, another "Shibir stronghold".

Police said the fight, between CU shuttle train based BCL group "Choose Friends with Care" (CFC) and the Shibir activists of the two halls, broke out around 4:00pm.

Amit Kumar Basu, vice president of the now dissolved BCL committee of CU, said Shibir men were stoning the BCL men while they were playing.

He denied that BCL activists vandalised or ransacked any room.

However, Shibir leader Rafiq Haider alleged that without any provocation, BCL men attacked Shibir activists and vandalised rooms and stole laptops and mobile phones from there.

The clashing groups chased each other with machetes, sticks, iron rods, and firearms.

Raihan Bakul, a general student of Alaol Hall, who jumped off the first floor in panic and got injured, said he saw one man firing blank shots from a pistol, but he did not know him.

Another resident student of the hall, Ridwan Hasnat Sharif, said he saw several pistol-wielding men and heard blank gunshots.

Md Salauddin Chowdhury, inspector (investigation) of Hathazari Police Station, said they rushed to the spot and detained an injured student but did not know whether firearms were used.

Additional police were deployed to prevent further fighting.