While campuses have long been notorious for political violence, violent clashes between students and local residents are increasing.

When Ishan Ahmed Turjo left Dhaka in 2020 to complete his undergraduate studies in Banking and Insurance at the University of Chittagong, he dreamed of a peaceful university campus life. Like many other students who didn’t get a spot in the student residence hall, he rented a small house near the university campus.

Four and a half years later, he is now back in Dhaka again, afraid to return to his studies after witnessing a deadly clash between the students and locals a few weeks ago.

“I don’t think we’ll have the courage to live in that area [Jobra] again,” Turjo told The Diplomat, recalling the violence that shook his neighborhood two weeks ago. “The whole place feels unsafe now. Hundreds of us live around there, and we are all in uncertainty.”

The disquiet follows two rounds of clashes between Chittagong University students and the residents of Jobra, a village near the university campus, that left hundreds injured and homes, shops, and vehicles vandalized. The clashes began on August 30, when a security guard at a building where many students rented lodgings allegedly harassed and physically assaulted a female student for returning home late. When students confronted him, locals joined in and attacked the students. The clashes raged through the night and again the following day.

The Jobra clash was not an isolated phenomenon.