Dhaka University female students faced moral policing on the campus as thousands of activists and leaders of Islamist groups marched through the area to join a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Tuesday.
Its impact was felt everywhere ranging from university halls to canteens as they also entered university buildings during the Islamic conference organised by Ulemah Mashayekh Bangladesh what it said to protect Tabligh Jamaat, qwami madrassahs and Islam.
Some attendees of the conference allegedly behaved rudely with university students, used university restrooms, harassed female students, and were engaged in moral policing sparking outrage among the students as well as on the social media.
DU students expressed their anger in various Facebook groups and personal timeline posts.
A student wrote in the Facebook鈥檚 Dhaka University Sikkharthi Shangsad-2 page that outsiders harassed girls in groups.聽
A female student filed a complaint with the proctor, saying, 鈥榃hile entering the campus, someone near the central library made inappropriate comments at me. I don鈥檛 feel safe on my own campus.鈥�
Different areas of the campus, including TSC, the social science faculty, arts faculty, Mall Chattar, and the VC Chattar were crowded with participants of the rally.
The conference attendees used the restrooms in the boys鈥� dormitories and academic buildings.
Additionally, several places on the campus, such as beside the central library and on the path to Shamsun Nahar Hall, were used by attendees for urination in the open, causing discomfort for the students.
However, there was no visible control by the university administration to check the nuisances on the campus.
The conference also caused huge traffic congestion in DU areas such as TSC, Shahbagh, Doel Chattar, Chankharpul, Shahidullah Hall Crossing, Curzon Hall, Nilkhet, and Palashi intersection.
DU students faced extreme distress and inconvenience in the situation.
Many students said that they were unable to attend classes on time due to prolonged traffic jams surrounding the university since morning.
Commenting on the overall situation, DU proctor Saifuddin Ahmed said that permission for the programme at Suhrawardy Udyan was granted by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
鈥楾hey said that 20,000 would be the total attendees but now it appears there are over a hundred thousand. Additionally, there was no permission for parking on the campus,鈥� he said.
鈥業 have received calls from around 100 students who have faced various forms of harassment. However, we don鈥檛 have the manpower to remove them,鈥� he added.
Mentioning that a letter will be sent to the concerned parties, he said, 鈥榃e will write to the two organisations that organised this programme, asking them to apologise.鈥�
鈥榃e will also write to the police commissioner requesting not to approve such large events without consulting us in the future,鈥� he added.
In the afternoon, the conference participants were seen cleaning some spots on the campus as they littered those while taking lunch.聽