Dhaka – Several hundred students of a public university have locked in clashes with law enforcement in Dhaka after police tried to prevent them from staging demonstration to demand construction of their dormitories in Dhaka, activists said on Monday.

The students of Jagannath University called a two-day strike from Tuesday to press their demand for construction of residential halls on the land of Dhaka’s central jail as the authorities have shifted the prison facilities to Keranignaj.

The announcement came at a press conference after hours of street agitation.

The lawmen tried to prevent the students from staging demos on the street in Dhaka’s Bangshal and Gulistan areas as they came from the campus located on the old part of the city. They held the programme to lay siege the Prime Minister’s Office.

Police lobbed teargas canisters and used water cannon to disperse the students, said police officer Ibrahim Khan.

Then they moved backward to the old city and staged sit-in for three hours near the campus.

Student of the Jagannath University have long been suffering from residential crisis, as most of the students are from other districts. They hardly have any accommodation in the dormitories. Instead they reside in rented homes in groups having fewer privileges for study.

They have started demonstration soon after the authorities shifted the Dhaka Central Jail from Nazimuddin Road to Keraniganj in the month of July.

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