Students of the Presidency University protesting at the vice chancellor's office
From 5:30 Friday evening, students of the Presidency University in Kolkata have gheraoed the Vice Chancellor Anuradha Lohia demanding her immediate resignation. Students crowded her room shouting slogans and painting grafitti on the wall saying, 'the VC must resign'. Dr Lohia has said she will not.
Trouble started with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to the university this afternoon, when Ms Banerjee arrived, students held up black flags and posters saying 'You are not welcome to Presidency'. They were protesting an alleged attack by the Trinamool Congress workers on students on the campus on April 10, 2013.
During her speech, Mamata Banerjee, said, "I don't need anyone's permission to come here. I know students politics. I have done student politics in my career."
At the end of the function, instead of driving away from the campus Mamata Banerjee walked from the auditorium to the gate amid tight security even as students shouted slogans against her.
At the gate, when she boarded her car, students rushed towards it. She drove off but police allegedly manhandled the students, as well as Trinamool cadre who had gathered outside the university.
"There were recognisable Trinamool Congress faces in the crowd, girls were molested and at least five students so badly hit, they had to be sent to hospital," said a Presidency student.
Trisha Chanda, the General Secretary of the Independent Consolidation, a dominant students body at the university, said, "We asked the vice chancellor to demand an apology from the police. The vice chancellor said she did not see anything. She is supposed to be our guardian but she has failed. We want her to resign immediately."
"I was not witness to the clash. There can be an inquiry if a complaint is filed but I have done nothing that will make me resign," the vice chancellor told NDTV.
The stand-off is continuing through the night and has put a question mark over the convocation scheduled at 4:30 today.