BUET closed indefinitely as students leave halls.

Academic activities at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology were suspended on Monday for an indefinite period after students ran riot on the campus in their demands for yet another deferment of term-final examinations. The examinations, which were scheduled to start today, were earlier deferred, as the students agitated for tension-free viewing of the World Cup of football. The latest spate of turbulence led the academic council to convene an emergency meeting and decide that the halls of residence should be vacated by 5:00pm. Members of the council adjourned the meeting halfway through and went on a tour of the campus to assess the damage by the students Sunday night. The tour over, the resumed the meeting and reached the decision to suspend academic activities of the university. When the council members were entering Shaheed Smriti Hall, a number of students hurled abusive remarks against them. On Sunday night, the agitating students damaged six cars and ransacked living quarters of teachers, injuring the residents. The students on their sixth consecutive day of demonstration went on the rampage at Dr MA Rashid and Suhrawardy halls after they heard of the suspension of academic activities and the order to vacate the halls. They denounced the decision and demanded resignation of the vice-chancellor and the directorate of students’ welfare. They held an informal briefing at Titumir Hall before leaving the hall and denied the allegation of confining any teacher. They said the provost went to the hall to see the situation himself and some of the students took him to a room to save him from the students’ wrath. The provost then requested the vice-chancellor to withdraw the police and as the forces were pulled out he went back, the students said. Asked about the reason behind ransacking the teachers’ quarters, they said when they went there, hot water was thrown on them. The also slated the behaviour of the vice-chancellor, as he refused to visit the injured students. Huge contingents of police have been deployed on the campus and the students left the halls by afternoon. The university administration said the examination schedule had been announced after a considerable time of ending the classes and the schedule had necessary gaps in between two examinations. There was an unprecedented rampage amid raging violence, damaging teachers’ residential buildings and cars, holding hostage the hall provosts that caused a terrible of overall law and order and academic atmosphere on the campus, the administration said. The vice-chancellor, Alee Murtaza, at a briefing in the evening held the unruly students responsible for the situation that forced the authorities to suspend the academic activities. ‘The suspension will continue till normalcy returns,’ he said. He said the authorities would form an inquiry committee to asses the losses for the violence and find out the responsible for it. The committee was not formed when the briefing was going on. Asked about the students’ allegation of misbehavior, the vice-chancellor said, ‘Such students always lie.’ He said he would not resign when he was asked if he would step down.

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