Protest
Dhaka, Aug. 3, 2018 (dpa/NAN) Teenagers thronged onto gridlocked streets of Dhaka for the sixth consecutive day on Friday, demanding improved road safety in the Bangladeshi capital as part of protests that have been marred by violence.
School and college students took position in different places and assumed the role of traffic police, checking driving licences and fitness certificates, and even seizing the keys from drivers without valid papers.
The teenagers were also seen guiding people to use zebra crossings, telling them to use footpaths, and making separate lanes for private cars, auto-rickshaws and bikes, as well as an emergency lane for ambulances.
Parents also formed a human chain in solidarity with the movement, demanding safer roads and justice after two college students were killed in an accident on Dhaka’s Airport Road on Sunday.
The police said on that a motorcycle rider was also killed in Dhaka on Friday when a bus hit him.
Soon after the incident, an angry mob set the bus on fire near the Moghbazar Wireless Gate area in the city, said sub-inspector Bachchu Mia, who is in charge of the Dhaka Medical College Police Outpost.
Bus owners and transport workers then suspended their services in certain districts, demanding the safety of the workers.
Dhaka has been largely cut off from the rest of the country, as no bus has entered from outside the city since early on Friday.
“We have suspended long-distance bus services for the safety of our workers,” Faruk Talukder Sohel, chairman of the Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners’ Association, told dpa.
Road accidents are very common in Bangladesh, killing around 3,000 people every year, according to police records.
The actual number of casualties is thought to be much higher, as many accidents go unreported. (dpa/NAN)
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