Armed Chhatra Shibir cadres laid siege to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall at Rajshahi University and confined the hall provost, some 30 Chhatra League activists and general students for some three hours on Thursday.

Later, two Shibir leaders were caught along with arms in a police raid at the hall in the afternoon, but they were released after giving undertakings at night

Sources said the incident erupted over allocation of 99 seats at the hall.

Provost Prof Rezaul Karim said the authorities in a decision on Wednesday allocated the •vacant seats among students basedon their merit andsenior-ity, but Shibir men protested it

"We asked them (Chhatra Shibir) to submit complaint against the seat allocation, but they didn't respond,” the provost told newsmen.

Instead, the Shibir men threatened Karim of teaching

him a lesson and created anarchy, he added.

"The new seat allocation intervened Shibir men's illegal control over the hall,” said Sumon Kami Baroi, publicity secretary of RU BCL

Witnesses said over hundred Shibir men and outsiders led by its hall unit President Mainul Islam and General Secretary Mostafizur Rahman and Nawab Abdul Latif Hall unit President Masud went to the hall around 10:00am and demanded cancellation of the allocation.

As asked for submitting complaints, the Shibir men went unruly and damaged the hall's notice board at around 10:30am.

At one stage, some 30 activists of BCL went to the scene and took the authorities' side that sparked off tense situation on the campus.

Equipped with iron rods, sticks and stones, a number of Shibir activists surrounded the hall and took position inside and outside the hall and chanted slogans.

As the situation was about to go out of control around 1:30pm, huge police forces led by Sazzadur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, rushed to the scene.

They rescued the confined BCL activists in a police vehicle from the hall.