Hundreds of students of Chittagong University could not attend classes and examinations yesterday as a faction of Bangladesh Chhatra League, demanding punishment for their intra-organisation rivals, barricaded Sholoshahar Railway Station, the place in the port city where most students board the shuttle train for the campus, in the morning.

The incident came a day after the university opened on Sunday, ending a 42-day vacation on the occasions of Durga Puja, Eid-ul-Fitr, and admission tests. The station had been blocked for three and a half hours till 11:00am, a period when students rush to the campus.

As in the previous time, general students paid for the misdeeds of BCL, the indulgent student body associated with the ruling Awami League, this time again.

On Sunday afternoon, two activists loyal to Amit Kumar Basu and Suman Mamun, vice president and joint general secretary respectively of the recently dissolved CU unit committee of BCL, were beaten up by their rival faction led by Jalal Ahmed and Ariful Islam, office secretary and organising secretary respectively of the same committee.

So, Amit's faction put up the barricade. “We identified the attackers and demanded their arrest and expulsion from the university," he told The Daily Star. "As our demand was not met, the students put the blockade today."

However, Vice Chancellor Prof Anwarul Azim said they already suspended the alleged attackers-Surid Shuvo and Jobaer Hossain, two activists loyal to Jalal. "I don't know why they put up the blockade after that," he said. Amit also said Hathazari Police Station refused to record a case regarding the attack. The officer-in-charge of the station was not available to comment.

Meanwhile, Jalal's group locked the main gate of the university accusing Amit's faction of attacking some of Jalal loyalists, instead.

BCL insiders, however, said the two factions were actually attempting to show their might so as to grab as many posts as they can in the upcoming BCL council of the CU unit. They said Amit's faction was driven off the campus eight months ago; now it was trying to get activated on the campus again.

Asked what the CU administration was doing to protect general students against such sufferings, Proctor Siraj-ud-Doula said if the BCL high-ups disowned the leaders and activists doing these things, such incidents might not recur. On the part of the CU administration, he said, they took disciplinary action against the offenders before. However, the proctor could not give any example.

Meanwhile, two dormitories, Shah Amanat which has been closed for over a year, and Suhrawardy that has been shut for over four months, both centring on BCL-Islami Chhatra Shibir clashes will reopen soon, said the proctor.