Allahabad University students on the rampage

Allahabad: The striking students of Allahabad University today rampaged for about an hour inside the university and damaged costly properties of the registrar’s office. The students, numbering about 50, came in a procession to “gherao” the registrar, but finding the office and the registrar’s room closed from all sides made the Senate Hall accommodating the office of the registrar their main target.

They broke open the heavy wooden doors of the office, brought out files and set them on fire. The whole corridor leading to the office was strewn with brick- bats and broken pieces of glass window panes.

After rampaging through the office, they climbed the staircase leading to the registrar’s room. There a collapsible gate put a hindrance to their entry. Bricks were used in an attempt to break open the collapsible gate.

The rampage continued for about one hour. By the time the police arrived on the scene, the ground floor of the Senate Hall was considerably damaged.

The striking students later held a meeting in the office of the students’ union. Several speakers at the meeting criticised the attitude of the university authorities in not accepting their “genuine demands” and condemned the entry of the police on Saturday inside the university.

After the meeting, the students went to various departments, where classes commenced this morning, and forced the boys to come out of the classrooms and join them.

The processionists stoned the buildings of the Commerce and English departments, damaging window panes.