Police today arrested 15 students who were forcibly occupying the administrative building of the South Eastern University in Oluvil, Ampara.

The students who had been occupying the building for a long period of time were arrested by officers of Akkaraipattu Police due to them continuing to forcible occupy the administrative building despite a court order issued.

A group of university students and several parents had taken over the administrative building, forcibly occupying it in protest over the suspension of five students of the of the Faculty of Technology of the Southeastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL) and the suspension of classes of over 20 other students.

The administration of the university had lodged three complaints with the police regarding the issue.

The Akkaraipattu Magistrate’s Court had issued a directive on October 15 ordering the students occupying the building in protest to vacate the premises.

While the parents participating in the protest had left the building, a group of 15 students had continued to occupy the building refusing the leave.

The arrested students are expected to be produced before the Akkaraipattu Magistrate later today (25).

With the occupation of the building, the administrative affairs of the university had come to a complete standstill, as they have been unable to carry out any administrative activity for nearly two weeks.

Under this situation, the South Eastern University was closed indefinitely yesterday (24).