Gridlocked Dhaka streets return to normal after students end protests for the day

Traffic in Dhaka has started to move after the agitating students of different private universities cleared the major streets they had kept choked throughout the day.

The students from 10am Sunday blockaded the streets at Dhanmondi, Rampura, Badda, Shahjadpur, Uttara and Abdullahpur, apart from several other areas.

 

The demonstrations jammed traffic until evening, when the protesters ended their agitations for the day.

 

But, before leaving, the students announced that they would resume their protests on Monday morning.

 

At around 5pm, students of East West University left Pragati Sarani at Rampura ending their blockade.

 

The blockade on the street at Uttara’s House Building area and at Abdullahpur was also called off sometime later.

 

The gridlocks on the streets started to clear after the students moved.

 

Dhaka Metropolitan Traffic Police’s control room Operator Kamrul Sharif in the evening told bdnews24.com several blockades across the capital had ended around and after 5pm.

 

“The tailbacks at Rampura, Banani’s Kakoli and Chairman Barhi, Gulshan 1 and 2, Bashundhara residential area, Mirpur 1 and 10 areas are returning to normal by the minute.”

 

But traffic tailback on Mirpur Road was yet to clear as students of several universities situated at Dhanmondi ended their protests late into the evening, Sharif added.

 

‘Hasan’, an employee of a private firm, told bdnews24.com he reached Mohakhali soon after starting from Banglamotor at around 5:30pm.

 

“There was no traffic jam on the way,” he said.

 

Another person, ‘Shibli’, after arriving at Mohakhali bus stand from Uttara at around 6pm, said the vehicle he travelled on was not stuck in any severe gridlock.