Demonstrators demand reinstatement of Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem; female dorm residents break curfew to join rally
CUET Students Stage Midnight Protests Over VC Removal, Lock Residence Gate
- CUET campus erupts into late-night protests following government order replacing Vice-Chancellor Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem.
- Hundreds of students, joined by female hall residents breaching dorm curfew, march through campus corridors.
- Agitating students blockade the Vice-Chancellor's official residence and padlock
Triggering severe institutional unrest across the campus, students of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) staged massive midnight demonstrations and padlocked the official residence of the Vice-Chancellor on Monday night, 21 September 2026. The sudden agitation was sparked by the government's executive decision to remove incumbent Vice-Chancellor Professor Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem, with demonstrators demanding his immediate reinstatement.
The unrest began late Monday evening after an official gazette notification surfaced indicating that the government had removed Prof. Sayem and appointed Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam from the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) as the new Vice-Chancellor of CUET. As the news disseminated across social circles and residential halls, widespread discontent erupted among the student body.
According to eyewitnesses, around 10:30 PM, a massive protest procession mobilized from the campus landmark 'Swadhinata Chattar'. The rally marched across major campus avenues, the core academic complex, female halls of residence, and the faculty housing zones. Breaking regular institutional dorm protocols—which typically mandate locking female residential hall gates by 8:00 PM—female students unlocked the dorm gates around 11:00 PM to join the street agitation alongside their peers.
Chanting slogans advocating the retention and reinstatement of Prof. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem, the demonstration circled back to Swadhinata Chattar near midnight before proceeding directly to the Vice-Chancellor's bungalow. The agitating students staged a sit-in at the perimeter, culminating in them placing a lock on the primary entrance gates of the official residence in symbolic defiance of the administrative transition.
//DBTech/AYI/BPO//
