BAU students block railway for second day to push for six demands

Students at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) extended their protest into a second day by blocking the Dhaka-Mymensingh rail route amid ongoing tensions over the university’s directive to vacate residential halls and the administration’s handling of a violent late-night altercation.

The blockade began on Monday afternoon at Jabbar’s Mor, halting train services on the key Dhaka–Mymensingh route after students rejected the administration’s order to vacate their dormitories following an attack by outsiders during a protest, according to a bdnews24.com report.

Students have issued a six-point charter of demands that includes the withdrawal of the hall evacuation directive, the provision of full residential facilities, resignation of the proctorial body, disciplinary action against staff implicated in the attack, and a public apology from Vice-Chancellor AKM Fazlul Haque Bhuiyan.

In response to the unrest, university authorities have indefinitely closed the campus and deferred the evacuation deadline. The unrest began when students confined the vice-chancellor and over 200 faculty and staff in a building, demanding the introduction of a combined degree for the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science disciplines. A group of outsiders later attacked the protest, resulting in several injuries and fuelling fierce backlash.