AL men, transport workers on Mirpur road
Awami League activists and transport workers took to the streets on Sunday, a week after students launched protests in Dhaka demanding safe roads.
Several hundred transport workers occupied Mirpur-1 road amid bus strike.
Meanwhile, several hundred activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami League joined with them in front of the Sony Cinema Hall.
Councillors from various wards and other local leaders led the march, which ended with a gathering in front of the theatre at 10am.
Awami League leaders say they chose the location because students had held demonstrations in the area in the past few days. Their demonstration aims to protest “anarchic elements” who are taking advantage of the student protests, they said.
“The honourable prime minister has expressed her solidarity with the demands from the regular students,” Darus Salam Thana Awami League General Secretary Faridul Haq Happy told bdnews24.com. “She has accepted all their demands.”
“We are here to protest those quarters who are still trying to inflame the student body and create anarchy on the roads and in the country.”
As of 12pm, students have reportedly taken to the streets at a few other locations, including Asad Gate and Uttara.
There seemed to be no unusual activity in the Jigatala and Science Laboratory areas, which had been the scenes for clashes on Saturday. Police and scouts have been deployed in the area.
Scout members are blocking pedestrians from crossing the roads in areas with footbridges, and telling them to use the pedestrian bridges for safety.
“People are coming to the police for help of their own accord now,” said officer-on-duty Mahbub Alam. “They are showing us the vehicle registration documents and taking any necessary advice.”
Motorcycle rider Md Imtiaz, who was standing next to him, said: “I had a lot of trouble on the roads in the past few days. Students repeatedly stopped me to check my papers. Sometimes they tore them by mistake.”
Students took to the streets on Jul 29 after two college students were killed in a bus accident on Dhaka’s Airport Road. The next day students continued their protests, blocking the roads in parts of the capital.
Students checked driver licences and vehicle documents and blocked vehicles without papers. The government accepted nine demands put forward by the protesters and urged them to return home on Friday.
But the student protests continued and clashes broke out on Saturday, allegedly spurred by pro-government groups.
Transport owners and workers have also reacted to the student protests, halting bus services across the country on Friday.
The halt continued into Sunday, when only state-run BRTC buses were seen on the roads. Commuters are facing difficulties travelling to their destinations, with many setting out on foot.
“We have no security on the roads,” said Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Joint Secretary Shawkat Ali Bulbul. “We are not able to operate the buses because nobody is able to provide security.”
“There is absolutely no security in Dhaka. There is no telling when the agitated boys will begin vandalising the buses. So no buses will run until the situation improves.”
