Two platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) are being deployed after Islami Chhatra Shibir activists blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Sitakunda in protest against the killing of an activist.
Sitakunda Upazila Nirbahi Officer Muhammad Shahin Imran confirmed bdnews24.com about the move at around 11pm on Wednesday.
The blockade has caused huge sufferings to hundreds of homebound people eager to spend Eid with their families.
The protesters torched two motorcycles and three CNG-run auto rickshaws at Sitakunda Sadar late in the evening following the killing.
Later, they blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at several places, local reporters said.
Hundreds of vehicles, as a result, remained stuck on one of Bangladesh’s busiest routes.
Sitakunda Police Station OC Samiul Alam told bdnews24.com traffic was disrupted after the protesters took to the streets on Wednesday evening and vandalised and torched several establishments at Bara Darogar Hat. “They also beat up a person.”
Earlier, doctors at the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) declared Abdullah Al Rasel, 28, dead when he was taken there around 8:45pm.
There were injury marks on his body, hospital sources said.
Local reporters said police were trying to clear the highway.
Rasel, son of Shamshul Islam, belonged to the Uttar Fedainagar village of Sitakunda Upazila. The local people said he was a former Shibir ‘Sathi’, a post in the student body.
Police said several vehicles had been vandalised but were unable to confirm any road block.
Rasel was beaten up by a group of people, the OC said, at Bara Darogar Hat. He was, however, unsure about the motive.
But information gathered from the CMCH suggested a land dispute might have led to the murder.
Source: Bd news24
