Students vacate hostels in AMU
ALIGARH: A day after clashes between the Aligarh Muslim University students and police, a number of students were seen vacating hostels following the varsity administration’s order.
“We were told to vacate the hostels immediately so we packed our bags. Now, I am looking for a bus to reach Deoria,” said Noor Alam, a student at the university.
University officials said that arrangements were also being made to facilitate train travel for students from the states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal.
The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also allegedly used force following protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which led to violence and arson. The students from the Aligarh University University came out in solidarity against the police action on JMI students, following which there were clashes with the police late on Sunday night in which at least 60 students were injured.
Speaking about the stone pelting , Alam said, “Even if there was stone pelting by a handful of people, the police should have shown restraint. But they chose to lathicharge students. Parked vehicles were damaged and police even entered the hostel rooms. Several students were injured and there was property damage too.”
Students said that the focus of the district and the AMU administration was getting the hostels vacated as soon as possible. This was corroborated by the varsity spokesperson Shafey Kidwai told HT. “The dining facility will be available till Monday evening, as the vacation has been preponed. There will be no dining facility from Tuesday,” said Kidwai.
Police denied using force on students. “We were not responsible for the situation. We entered through the Bab-e-syed Gate only after obtaining written permission from the university administration. As the police entered, students and antisocial elements on the campus began pelting us with stones and bottles,” said senior superintendent of police, Aligarh, Akash Kulhari.