Transport worker dies in clashes with police over bridge toll

A man died after transport workers clashed with police during a demonstration over the Buriganga bridge toll on Friday.

The workers demanded resetting the toll rate for the Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in Postagola on the outskirts of Dhaka.

The dead worker has been identified as 28-year-old Sohel, a driver of a smaller passenger vehicle, locally known as Mahendra. He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Witnesses said Sohel died after police opened fire on the protesters as the demonstration turned violent. 

“We received a bullet-hit man. There were injuries on his chest and abdomen. The police later came and took away the body,”  Karimul Hasan, a manager of Equria General Hospital, told bdnews24.com.

"I heard about the death. I’m looking into it. I can confirm it when I get the complete details,” Dhaka District Superintendent of Police Shah Mizan Shafiur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

The police rushed to the scene when agitated transport workers began their demonstration on Friday morning. At one point, clashes erupted between the police and workers.

The workers were protesting near the bridge in Keraniganj. They were hurling bricks at the law enforces. Police initially fired rubber bullets to disperse them.

Traffic suspended by skirmishes for hours came back to normal.

In 2015, traffic over the bridge remained halted for three days due to the autorickshaw drivers’ protest against a toll hike.

Later, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, a transport worker leader, stepped in, and the protesters called off the demonstration.