The New Nation - Internet Edition

Khulna Correspondent

At least 50 students of Khulna University were injured in series of clashes between students and transport workers in the city's Sonadanga Bus Terminal on Thursday and Friday morning.

The Khulna University (KU) authority, in an emergency meeting at noon declared the Institution closed sine die and asked the students to vacate the dormitories by 3:00pm on Friday.

The KU on Tuesday went on a month-long summer vacation.

Source said the clashes occurred when four students of the university went to board a Hanif Paribahan bus for Dhaka at Sonadanga Bus Terminal with their computers, luggage and books at 9:00pm on Thursday.

As the staff of the transport company demanded extra money for carrying the computers, the student refused to travel and demanded return of their ticket money.

At one stage of the altercation the staff with the help of musclemen beat up the four KU students and confined them till midnight. However, the transport workers returned their ticket money and set them free.

Later, protesting the incident when fellow students came to the

spot early Friday morning the transport workers attacked them, leaving six of them critically injured. They are Atique, Rakib, Asad, Maruf, Muktadir and Ali Quader. They are undergoing treatment at various city clinics.

The students and transport workers then locked in a fierce clash, which continued till 3:30am. Police later intervened and brought the situation under control.

Earlier, the agitated KU students, protesting the attack, put up barricade on Khulna-Satkhira Road at about 5:00am and continued the siege when the last report came in at 1:00pm disrupting road communications on 13 different routes.

Police said the students of the Institute took to the streets, damaged passing vehicles on Khulna-Satkhira Road and clashed with law enforcers to protest the assault on the students.

The students also burnt tyres on the road in front of the university and vandalised three eateries and damaged two buses during the blockade.

During the clash, the agitated students damaged 10 ticket counters of different transport companies at Gollamari in the city on the night.

The students demanded immediate punishment of transport worker Biplob, who allegedly led the attack on the students.

A tense situation was prevailing in the area following the clash.

Additional police forces have been deployed there to avert further clashes.

The transport companies have decided to stop bus service to different destinations from the city for an indefinite period and demanded punishment of the unruly students.