Bangalore varsity campus rocked by protests, lathi charge

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Two student groups who took out protests for various reasons were dispersed by the police after a lathicharge on the Bangalore University (Jnanabharathi campus) on Mysuru road.

One set of students held a protest in front of the main block of BU condemning the district administration of Raichur for forceful removal of a picture of Dr B.R. Ambedkar during the flag hoisting on Republic day and the other group of students along with the ABVP protested for delay in examination results and other evaluation issues.

While the students who were protesting against the district administration of Raichur had already started their march in the campus, they were taken by surprise when ABVP along with PhD and Post-graduate students who also took out protests.

The two factions wanted to enter the main building premises and only the students condemning the Raichur incident were allowed.

A huge tug-of-war happened between these two factions of students and with the University officials. “They demanded us to move away and give space for their protest and we couldn’t do so. Hence they created ruckus in front of the gate,” said a student protestor.

Officials said that the police used lathicharge as a method to disperse the ABVP students crowd and around 25-30 people were hit.