Sust students announce complete shutdown until Sucsu election

Students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) yesterday (24 January) resumed protests demanding the election of the university's central students' union (Sucsu), announcing a complete shutdown of all academic and administrative activities until the polls are held.

Protest leaders said the shutdown would take effect from today and continue until the Sucsu election takes place.

The announcement was made in the afternoon by Delwar Hasan Shishir, vice-presidential candidate of the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed Durbar Sustian Oikya panel.

He said the Sucsu election must be held before the national election.

"After discussions with class representatives (CRs) of all departments on Friday, we decided to enforce the shutdown. Our movement will continue until the Sucsu election is ensured," he said.

Earlier in the day, students brought out a protest march on the campus around 5 pm. The procession started from Gol Chattar, marched through the Shah Paran Hall area and briefly staged a sit-in at Syed Mujtaba Ali Hall.

The march later moved to Chetona-71, proceeded past the female residential halls and ended in front of the university's administrative building.

During the demonstration, protesters chanted slogans, including 'Sucsu cannot be shut down by mobs', 'Sucsu cannot be shut down from Dhaka', and 'I have a plan, Sucsu ban'.

Participants in the procession included VP candidate Delwar Hasan Shishir, GS candidate Mujahidul Islam, independent GS candidate Palash Bakhtiar, Junayed Ahmed, Faisal, and Bangla Department student Abu Saleh Md Nasim, among others.

It may be mentioned that voting for the SUCSU election, scheduled for 20 January after a gap of 28 years, was suspended following a writ petition filed by two candidates and a student.

On 19 January, the High Court ordered a four-week stay on the election process.