Police break up Left Parties' demonstration against gas price hike

Police in Dhaka have lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse protestors demonstrating against the recent gas prices.

After sponsoring  a shutdown on Feb 28, an alliance of Left parties announced a march on the energy ministry for Wednesday.

Around 11am, activists of several Left parties, including the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BaSoD) gathered at the press club area for the protests.

After holding a brief rally, they took out a procession, which was stopped by police when it was heading to the Secretariat.  

A scuffle broke out between the demonstrators and law-enforcers, when the protestors tried to get past barriers set up by police.

A running battle erupted when police lobbed tear-gas and used water-cannons to disperse the demonstrators.

"This was a peaceful protest, which was attacked by the police," CPB leader Ruhin Hossain Prince told the rally. He announced protests at the same venue for Thursday.

The demonstrators, however, could not say how many of their activists have been injured in police action.

"We can't say an exact figure, but we came to know that a Chhatra Union activist named Shahriar has been taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital," said Ganashanghati Andolon Coordinator Junaid Saki.

Police said the protesters unleashed violence when their procession was stopped.

"They were vandalising vehicles on the street as well as hurling bricks at police," Ramna Division Additional Deputy Commissioner Nabid Kamal told bdnews24.com.

Traffic was suspended in the area for around 45 minutes, when the clash between demonstrators and police erupted around 12pm.