The students of Jagannath University on Wednesday called a shutdown at the university for Thursday to press home their various demands, including construction of halls of residence in the vacated land of Dhaka Central Jail at Old Dhaka.
Monirul Islam Rajon, on behalf of the demonstrating students, announced the programme after their march towards education ministry on Wednesday.
The students marched towards the ministry in a procession from the campus around 10:00am.
Police, however, intercepted them in front of the National Press Club. Facing obstruction, the students took position there blocking the road and stayed there till 1:00pm shouting slogans in favour of their demands.
Commuters faced difficulties as they experienced heavy traffic congestion on the busy road caused by the movement of students.
During their march, police attempted to intercept the students at Roy Shaheb Bazar crossing and Naya Bazar crossing where both the parties engaged in scuffles.
The students continued their demonstration for days alleging that they were living in insecurity at boarding houses as the university authorities failed to provide residential facilities to them.
Moreover, they were facing problems at boarding houses over the ongoing issue of extremism, the students said.
In the face of movement, the authorities of Jagannath University on August 11 wrote to the government again seeking permanent ownership of the vacated land of Dhaka Central Jail to use it for various purposes including constructing halls of residence for its students.
The letter was sent as per decision of a meeting of the university’s academic council.
Earlier on March 23, 2014, the university authorities had sent a letter to the home ministry over the permanent ownership of the land of Dhaka jail located at Nazimuddin Road.
They, in the letter, had requested the ministry to take steps for handing over the ownership of the land permanently after its shifting.