Chhatra Odhikar Parishad event attacked by 'BCL men', 50 hurt

Chhatra Odhikar Parishad event attacked by 'BCL men', 50 hurt

At least 50 people were injured after Bangladesh Chhatra League men allegedly attacked activists of Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad at Dhaka University campus this morning.

Witnesses said the BCL men carried out the attack when leaders and activists of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad started a procession towards TSC around 10:45am, marking the student body's fifth founding anniversary.

Our Dhaka University correspondent obtained brief footage of the incident where he could identify at least one BCL leader – Asaduzzaman Farid, joint secretary of Jahurul Haque hall unit BCL-- among the attackers.

Sifat Uddin Sifat, former office secretary of DU unit Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, said they were holding their anniversary programme when a group of BCL men attacked them, leaving at least nine leaders and activists injured.

"The BCL men were chanting slogans [relating to] Cumilla Victorians to shift the blame to others," he claimed.

Parishad's President Bin Yeamin Molla is among the injured, he said.

Contacted, Tanbir Hasan Shaikat, DU unit general secretary of BCL, claimed that general students were celebrating the victory of Comilla Victorians in the BPL when Chhatra Odhikar Parishad men told them sports celebration is forbidden in Islam.

They, at one stage, attacked the general students, leaving at least two students injured, he claimed, adding BCL has no programme on campus today.

Earlier on October 7 last year, BCL men attacked Chhatra Odhikar Parishad activists on DU campus, leaving at least 12 Parishad activist injured.