Cops detain protesting students

LAHORE:

Protests against on-campus exams turned violent in the provincial capital as police allegedly baton-charged students on Tuesday outside a university.

The students held demonstrations and demanded that online examinations be conducted amid rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the metropolis.

The condition of a student of the University of Central Punjab, identified as Shah Jahan, was reportedly serious after he was injured in the baton-charge. He was taken to Jinnah Hospital, while some other students also sustained serious injuries during the protest.

The protests by university students in favour of online exams continued in various cities of Punjab.

However, protests outside UCP Lahore turned violent after anti-riots force baton-charged the demonstrators.

According to sources, after the students gathered outside the varsity to protest, the university’s administration sought police help to stop them.

The students of various private and government universities also protested in front of Governor House and later held demonstrations in front of their campuses to press their demand for online exams.

A group of students also gathered in front of UCP Lahore and attempted to enter the campus by force, while the varsity’s administration, in anticipation of being stormed by the students, had already called the police to tackle the protesters.

The sources added that some of the protesting students allegedly attempted to ignite a fire near the university.

A clash took place as students reportedly broke the CCTV cameras, attacked the main gate and entered the campus.

After the protest turned violent, Lahore police as well as the university’s security team tackled the students, injuring dozens of them during the clash.

The student named Shah Jahan was seriously injured, who later was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jinnah hospital, said an official of UCP Lahore on the condition of anonymity.

“Our protest is peaceful and we just tried to enter the campus to discuss the matter with the university administration. However, we were tortured by the police and UCP guards,” said Ali, a student.

A couple of days ago, a student of another university was also allegedly injured by police during a protest demonstration.

“The police officials manhandled me and also beat me even though I was here only to peacefully protest against my university’s decision to hold on-campus exams amid the pandemic in Punjab. The police physically abused and humiliated me even though I offered them cans of cold drinks and chocolates as a gesture of peace,” stated Danial, a media studies student.

However, UCP Public Relations Officer Tahira Qasim said, “No such incident of torture and students injured is in my knowledge.”

Reportedly, the police also detained dozens of people.

The students staged a sit-in outside their campuses throughout the day. In the evening, police launched a crackdown to disperse the students gathered outside the campus in Johar Town.

A day earlier, the students of University of Management and Technology (UMT) had staged a protest over the same issue.

After the day-long protest, the university administration accepted their demands for online exams.

A similar protest had been going on in Dera Ghazi Khan where around 3,000 students of the division gathered outside office of Ghazi University VC to demand online exams. It was their second day of protest.

A few days ago, a large number of students of various universities across Lahore had staged a demonstration outside Governor House.

Students had been protesting for online exams in different cities, which largely remained peaceful.

Last week, students’ rejection of on-campus exams had become a trending social issue on Twitter.

Lahore DIG Operations Ashfaq Ahmad khan claimed that police got involved after students became violent.

Protesting students explained that they had been offered online classes and why they should be appearing for exams on campus.

The students also claimed that they were asked to pay full fee for online classes. However, no facility of internet or devices like laptop and computer was provided to them.

They also questioned the quality of the online classes.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2021.