Staff Correspondent:

Rejecting the half-day mourning declared by the administration over the death of Shahriar Alam Shammo, 25, a student of Dhaka University (DU), a group of students staged a full-day class and exam boycott on Thursday.

They carried out the demonstration under the banner of “Anti-Terrorism Students,” in which leaders and activists from the Chhatra Dal and several left-leaning student organisations also took part.

Around 12:45pm, students were seen locking up academic buildings across the campus, including the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Business Studies.

Protesters also said they have locked the Faculty of Science and the administrative buildings.

The protesting students called on their peers to refrain from attending any classes or exams and to stay away from all administrative activities for the day.

They also demanded the resignation of the university’s vice-chancellor and proctor.

A protest rally to press for these resignations was scheduled to be held at 5pm at the base of the Oporajeyo Bangla sculpture.

Abid Ur Rahman Mishu, a student of the Department of Japanese Studies and literary and publication secretary of the Surja Sen Hall unit of the Chhatra Dal, told the media: “We have two demands — the resignation of the VC and proctor and a safe campus. At the same time, Shammo’s killers must be arrested immediately and brought to exemplary justice.”

Protests and demonstrations had also taken place on campus on Wednesday over the murder of Shahriar Alam Shammo, with participants demanding the swift arrest and trial of his killers.

Meanwhile, the university authorities formed a seven-member committee to investigate the incident.

Shammo, a postgraduate student from the 2018–19 session at the Institute of Education and Research, was fatally stabbed late on Tuesday during an altercation following a motorcycle collision near Suhrawardy Udyan.

He was a resident of Room 222 at AF Rahman Hall and served as the literary and publication secretary of the hall unit of the Chhatra Dal. His family hails from Sirajganj.

His elder brother, Shariful Islam, filed a case at Shahbagh police station in connection with the murder.

Meanwhile, after Shammo’s stabbing death, police conducted drives in several areas of the capital and arrested three suspects: Md Tamim Hawlader, 30, Palash Sardar, 30, and Samrat Mallik, 28.