The JCD workers manning the Shahbagh area pounced on a group of BCL members as soon as they tried to enter the campus at around 9:30am to enforce an indefinite strike at the DU from yesterday.

The BCL had called an indefinite strike to protest attack on its leaders and activists at a procession on the campus on Thursday that injured nearly 50 students including its president Liakot Shikder. The BCL brought out the procession in support of general students' strike for the government declaration on the four-year honours as professional qualification.

Dinesh and Shohag of the JCD allegedly led the attack that left BCL leaders Abu Sayeed, Aziz, Bazlu, Shaikat and Shishir injured.

Police, deployed in force following the JCD attacks on the BCL members on Thursday, were mere spectators when the activists of the ruling BNP's student front attacked the BCL workers, campus sources said.

Equipped with firearms and lethal weapons, the JCD workers were guarding all entry points to the varsity at Shahbagh, Nilkhet, Palashi, Bakshi Bazar and Chankharpool since early morning. Some of them were also seen patrolling by motorbikes.

The Alia Madrassah unit of the JCD also ransacked a restaurant at the Bakshi Bazar crossing having found some BCL leaders and workers inside it (restaurant).

The BCL workers meanwhile took out their anger on four university buses and beat up two drivers at different parts of the city.

Classes were not held at the DU yesterday and presence of students was also very thin. The administrative building however remained open.

Later at a press briefing at its Bangabandhu Avenue office, leaders of the BCL vowed to continue their strike until the authorities take steps to reinstate their workers and restore congenial academic atmosphere in the university.

They also alleged that activists of the JCD ransacked rooms of BCL President Jasimuddin and General Secretary Khairul Hasan Jewel of the Fazlul Haq Hall unit on Friday night and beat up leaders Badshah Mian, Milon and Sumon.

On Thursday, the JCD workers also beat up and ousted some BCL leaders and activists from different halls. The Daily Star's DU Correspondent Hasan Jahid Tusher, a resident of Zahurul Haq Hall, was also not spared from the wrath of the JCD activists, who beat him with iron rods before throwing him out.