Students protest to postone tests until after world cup

DHAKA (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.