Students go on rampage in Bangladesh

Student riots that erupted in Dhaka University two days ago spread through the capital and campuses across Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Protesters went on a rampage attacking a Cabinet member's house and damaging nearly 100 vehicles despite the government's efforts to quell the violence.

Unidentified young men pelted stones at the education adviser Ayub Kadri in the posh Dhanmondi in Dhaka on Tuesday night, witnesses said. However, no one was injured, police said.

Street vendors and slumdwellers, who were evicted from roadside pavements and government lands following the January 11 promulgation of emergency, joined the angry students as violence, which has left over 250 people injured and paralysed normal life in Dhaka.

Students of major colleges went on a rampage in Mohakhali area and old part of Dhaka including the court complex while slumdwellers took to streets in several others parts of the city.

At least 30 students were injured in a major clash in Rajshahi, where students vandalised a government building and several other facilities. The trouble started when police stopped a students' march from marching to the administrative building.

The interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, facing its biggest challenge, started damage-control exercise by ordering the withdrawal of army from the university as demanded by the agitating students. It also promised a judicial probe into the alleged assault on students by army personnel after a quarrel during a football match