CHITTAGONG, Sept. 26 — Students at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology continued protests demanding the reinstatement of recently removed Vice Chancellor Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem. Protest marches, rallies and other programs continued on campus from Saturday morning.
During the morning protest, students showed a red card to new Vice Chancellor Prof. Sheikh Shariful Alam. The program was held in protest of remarks he made to the media about the student movement. Students also continued painting graffiti on different walls of the university from the morning.
In remarks to the media Friday, Prof. Sheikh Shariful Alam said only 30 to 35 students were protesting. He said most students had already unlocked the campus and were warmly inviting him to the campus. After those remarks were published, students held the symbolic red card program Saturday morning.
The protest march started from the campus Shaheed Minar, moved through different roads and ended at the same place. Students chanted slogans including “Red card to online VC” and “Online VC, online VC, we will not accept.”
Protesting students said the new vice chancellor’s remarks about the campus movement and student position did not match reality. They said they had protested the remarks and would continue their movement demanding the reinstatement of Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem as vice chancellor.
Mahidur Rahman Osmani, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student who joined the march, said the new vice chancellor had joined online in an unprecedented manner. He said the vice chancellor’s remarks to the media were completely inconsistent, and students were protesting through the red card program.
On Sept. 21, a notification from the Secondary and Higher Education Division of the Education Ministry removed CUET Vice Chancellor Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem and appointed Prof. Sheikh Shariful Alam of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology’s electronics, computer and engineering department as the new CUET vice chancellor.
Students began protesting that night. From the following day, they have been observing shutdown and mass sit-in programs. Later, the teachers’ association and officers’ association also announced work stoppages demanding the vice chancellor’s reinstatement. Students have said their only demand is the reinstatement of Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report