DU observes ‘Black Day’

The Dhaka University (DU) authority observed “Black Day” in sad memory of the clashes that took place between the university’s teachers, students, officials and security forces on August 20-23, 2007 during the caretaker government regime, reports BSS.

Teachers, students, officials and employees of the university wore black badges marking the day, said a DU press release on Friday.

A discussion was held at the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) around 11:00 am with DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Md. Akhtaruzzaman in the chair, added the release.

On August 20 in 2007, some military members severely beat up students during an incident at the football match at DU central playground and afterward a violent clash erupted between students and security forces.

Thousands of DU students took up to the streets protesting the incident and demanded withdrawal of the army camp from the campus and sought apologies from the troops.

DU student protest later spread to all the educational institutions across the country.

Following the clash, the then army-backed caretaker government imposed a curfew on the divisional cities and later arrested four DU teachers- Prof Dr Anwar Hossain, Prof Dr Sadrul Amin, Prof Dr Harun-or-Rashid and Prof Dr Neem Chandra Bhowmick and several students on August 23.