Battery-run autorickshaw drivers blocked Padma Bridge rail track and clash with police on Friday disrupting road and rail traffic.
Shafiqul Islam, Officer-in-charge (OC) of Shyampur Police Station, said that around 11:00am, around hundreds of rickshaw drivers blocked the rail crossing. They staged the protest demanding permission for running battery-run rickshaws on roads in Dhaka.
OC Shafiqul said the police initially tried to persuade the protesters to move from the area.
When police tried to chased them away, they locked into clashes.
By 1:00pm, the protesters were cleared from the roads, said OC Shafiqul.
Witnesses said, during the clash, police lobbed up teargas canisters while rickshaw drivers pelted brickbats.
Mohammad Anwar Hossain, station master at Kamalapur Railway Station, said that rail connection between Dhaka and Narayanganj, Rajshahi, and Khulna was disrupted from 11:20am.
Two trains that were supposed to leave Dhaka for Narayanganj and two that were supposed to enter Dhaka from the neighbouring city have been delayed.
The Nakshi Katha commuter going to Khulna from Dhaka, and Dhaka-bound Modhumoti Express from Rajshahi could not reach their destinations either.
The lines were clear as of 3:10pm, said the station master.
On Thursday, hundreds of battery-run rickshaw drivers blocked roads and rail lines in Dhaka, including at Mohakhali, Agargaon and Mirpur-10, bringing traffic to a halt for more than five hours. Rail communication between Dhaka and most of the country was suspended for around six hours from 9:45am after a group of drivers blocked the Mohakhali level crossing.
Earlier on Tuesday, the High Court directed the government to take necessary steps to stop the plying of battery-run rickshaws in Dhaka within three days. The following day, drivers took to the streets in protest at the decision.
