Quarantined Bangladeshi returnees from Italy demonstrate in Gazipur

A group of expatriate Bangladeshis from coronavirus-ravaged Italy have demonstrated on the premises of a quarantine facility in Gazipur after breaking the gate of the building.

The government took 48 returnees to the facility, a centre with 20 seats for care of mothers and children, in the city’s Pubail on Saturday night after they arrived at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport.

Abdullah Al Jaki, the executive officer of Gazipur Sadar Upazila, said the expatriates asked officials on Sunday afternoon why the returnees were kept in captivity though they had done nothing wrong.

“Arguing that they send in a huge amount of foreign currency, the expatriates started to demonstrate. At one stage, they broke down the collapsible gate and came out,” he said.

Pubail Police Station OC Md Nazmul Haque Bhuiyan said additional police personnel were deployed there on the news of the demonstration and “vandalism”. “The situation is normal now,” he said.

Gazipur Civil Surgeon Khairuzzaman said four of the returnees were sent to the Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital in Dhaka as they had significantly high temperature.

The hospital is being used for isolation and treatment of suspected coronavirus patients on arrival from abroad.