Visva-Bharati students protest at campus demanding reopening of hostels

KOLKATA: Students of Visva-Bharati, demonstrating for the reopening of hostels, got into a scuffle with varsity's security staff on Wednesday when they tried to enter the central office scaling a boundary wall. The students have been agitating for a week now, demanding the reopening of hostels but the vice-chancellor is unresponsive, SFI leader Somnath Sow said.

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"We have been urging the vice-chancellor to talk to us but he is unresponsive. Many students who are not locals are finding it difficult to fund their lodging in hotels as offline classes have resumed," Sow said. As the varsity's security staff did not allow the students to enter the central office, a section of them tried to scale the boundary wall, he said. "Many of us were manhandled by the security staff, leading to a scuffle. We were heckled by security guards for raising a just demand," he added.

The students will continue to demonstrate till the varsity reopens the hostels, which are closed since the beginning of the pandemic, he said. The agitating students created trouble and went after the security staff who were doing their job as people in groups are not allowed to enter the central office, a spokesperson of the university said. No decision has been taken on the reopening of the hostels, he said.