RU students clash with locals, torch shops

A group of students of Rajshahi University clashed with locals at Binodpur Bazar adjacent to the university on Saturday evening, leaving at least 20 injured.

Out of the injured, two RU students named Rakib and Khalid Saifullah were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

The agitated students also set around 25/30 shops on fire.

Witnesses said several cocktails exploded there and the students torched about all shops at the bazaar and, even they looted some.

The locals and the students were throwing brickbats toward each other from both sides of the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway when the report was filed around 8:30 pm.

Local sources said a RU student named Mohammad locked into an altercation with the supervisor and the helper of a bus on his way to the university from Bogura over fare.

He, later, came to the bus counter at Binodpur to talk over the matter but again locked into an altercation with the locals that turned into a clash.

Rafiqul Islam, the additional deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said the clash ensued between RU students and locals over bus fare.

Additional police were deployed to the spot to bring the situation under control, he added.

Monir Hossain Mahin/SU