SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: July 29, 2024

Attack Types: Killings, Violence, Disappearances

Institution(s):Barisal University

Region & Country:Southern Asia | Bangladesh

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On July 29, 2024, members of the Chhatra League attacked a group of students at Barisal University, injuring 15. The students were meeting to determine the next actions that they would take as part of their movement.

As the student activists were meeting, around two dozen members of the university’s Chhatra League attacked them with sticks, rods, and pipes. According to one report, members of the police were present at the time of the attack and allowed it to continue. The officer-in-charge of the local police station said that police had brought the situation under control.

The attack injured fifteen students, nine of whom were admitted to the hospital for treatment.

The violence occurred against the backdrop of the quota reform movement, a set of widespread student protests that began on the campus of the University of Dhaka, after a June 5, 2024 ruling by the High Court of Bangladesh reinstating a quota system – previously abolished in 2018 – which allocated government jobs to certain favored groups. Under the system, 30% of government positions went to people who had fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan and their family members, creating a shortage of sought-after positions for others. The protests ultimately led to the resignation of Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the establishment of a new interim government.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about a violent attack on student protesters. Students and members of the public must refrain from violence, especially on campus, and respect the right to freedom of association and freedom of expression, and university authorities must take reasonable measures to ensure safe conditions for living, learning, and expression for students. In addition to harm to the immediate victims, violent attacks on students undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/241140/arrests-clashes-mark-fresh-student-protests-in-many-areas-of-bangladesh
https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/241156/15-injured-at-barishal-university-in-alleged-bcl-attack
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/quota-reform-protesters-hold-demonstration-across-bangladesh20240730120656/