Chittagong druggists enforce half-day strike

Druggists in Chittagong shut down their stores for six hours on Sunday to protest the arrest of their colleagues following an attack on a mobile court.

They also demanded withdrawal of a case filed in connection with the Nov 24 attack.

Around 10,000 drugstores in the city and 14 upazilas of the district were kept closed between 8am and 2pm, said Nurul Gani, vice president of the Chittagong region of Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Association (BCDA).

The mobile court came under attack on Nov 24 while conducting a drive at a drugstore in the city’s Borobazar Hazari Lane.

Two Ansar personnel were injured in the attack.

Kotwali police detained 15 people after the incident. The following day, the district administration filed a case against 18 people, showing the president of the Chittagong region BCDA as the prime accused.

Claiming that ‘miscreants’ had attacked the court, Nurul Gani said : “We went to the deputy commissioner [of Chittagong district] to discuss a way out of the situation but did not get a positive response. That is why we observed the strike [on Saturday].”