Truckers block road to Ctg port protesting 'beating, extortion of colleague by police'

One of the two roads providing access to Chittagong Port was blocked off for around one and a half hours yesterday by some 150 trucks and covered vans after, as per some demonstrators, some traffic policemen beat up a driver for refusing to pay extortion money.

The around 100 drivers protesting there also demanded that Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Traffic Inspector (TI) (port zone) Abul Kashem, along with a sergeant and a traffic constable, be relieved of duty for the assault. The demonstration ended around 3:00pm after high ranking police officials arrived on the spot at MA Aziz Road near the Nimtala intersection and assured informing higher authorities of the demand.

The constable has been "withdrawn", Assistant Police Commissioner (Port) Zahedul Islam told The Daily Star without providing details.

The accused, along with four or five "middlemen", around 12:30pm first stopped a covered van driver who complied with the constable's demand for Tk 200, said Shafiqur Rahman, president of Chittagong District Truck Covered Van Workers' Union.

However, the TI demanded Tk 10,000, accusing the driver of not abiding by his signal, he added. The driver refused and the accused and the "middlemen", following the TI's order, brought him out of the vehicle and started beating him and later took away the vehicle's documents, said Shafiqur. The TI refuted the allegations.