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Students of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU) in the capital demolished the main temporary entrance gate of the trade fair set up on the university’s playground and ended their protest on Monday.
They returned to the campus at around 1:10pm after completing the demolition work.
Earlier, at around noon, more than 200 students entered the field and began demolishing various structures at the fair. They used two tractors brought from the university to pull down the installations. At one stage, they also demolished the fair’s main temporary entrance gate.
The students have been protesting for several days, demanding the return of their university playground. They insist that no trade fair or other commercial event should be organised on the university’s own field, which they say should be reserved for students’ sports, education and research activities.
Their other demands include cancelling the plan to relocate the Bangladesh Secretariat to the field, making it suitable for agricultural research and prohibiting the construction of any permanent or temporary structures there.
On October 27, students obstructed soil testing work at the field and took the equipment and two vehicles used for the operation to the university campus.
The following day, October 28, they vandalised the trade fair’s main entrance gate and several other temporary structures.
They have also staged several road blockades demanding the recovery of the playground. Most recently, on November 1, they blocked roads at the China Friendship Signal intersection, disrupting traffic in surrounding areas.