Protest over new Duet VC turns violent in Gazipur

An ongoing protest over the appointment of a new vice chancellor at Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology turned violent today, leaving several people injured in clashes on the campus.

“Tensions had been building among students over the VC appointment for the past few days. Today, the situation escalated into clashes. Police are working to bring the situation under control,” Gazipur Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Aminul Islam told The Daily Star.

There have been no reports of serious injuries so far, he added.

Aminul Islam, director of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital, said 15 injured people had been brought from the Duet campus as of 12:00pm today.

The government on Thursday appointed Professor Dr Mohammad Iqbal of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology as the new vice chancellor of the university.

A section of students has been protesting the decision since the appointment order was issued. Several teacher leaders also joined the protests, demanding that the vice chancellor be appointed from among Duet’s senior faculty members.

Police and local sources said the movement began around 9:30pm on Thursday and continued into this morning.

Students gathered on campus and staged demonstrations from 8:00am today. Tensions escalated further after rumours spread that the newly appointed VC might arrive on campus to assume office.

At one stage, protesting students locked the university’s main gate. Later, an argument broke out between protesters and another group allegedly supporting the new VC, eventually turning into clashes. During the confrontation, both sides reportedly hurled bricks at each other, according to police and local sources.

The protesting students said Duet is a specialised engineering university with academic and administrative realities different from other institutions. Therefore, they argued, the vice chancellor should have been appointed from among the university’s experienced and senior internal faculty members.

As of the latest reports, a tense atmosphere still prevailed on the campus, with additional police deployed to maintain law and order.