Bangladesh students say no to exams during World Cup

DHAKA, May 28 (Reuters) Hundreds of students at a Bangladesh university besieged the office of their vice-chancellor demanding exams be postponed during the World Cup.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) had announced exams would run from June 3 to 29, ignoring a call from the students to defer the tests for a month.

''We will not withdraw the siege unless the authorities scrap the exam schedules,'' said a protester at the university for 7,000 students in the capital.

The authorities called in police but they did not try to break up the protest.

''We are giving the students time to go back to their dormitories,'' a police officer on the campus said.

Alee Murtaza, the vice-chancellor of the university said: ''We understand the students' sentiments but we cannot put everything on hold for a month just for the World Cup.'' Bangladesh are not in the finals but soccer is enthusiastically followed throughout Asia.

REUTERS