Boy's death for 'power official's neglect' sparks violent protest
At least 50 people, including seven policemen and a local Awami League (AL) leader, were injured in clashes that took place during a violent protest over electrocution of a boy near Alamdanga upazila power station on Tuesday.
Deceased Bayezid Hossain Rajib, 12, was a student of Alamdanga Pilot High School and son of Abdul Bari, a resident of the upazila town.
Rajib was electrocuted as he came in contact with a snapped electric wire near the power station on the way to his private tutor's house at 8 am.
Locals alleged that the torn wire that caused the fatal accident was not removed by Shafiqur Rahman, resident engineer of Alamdanga power station, despite several requests they had made to him.
Angered at Rajib`s death, several thousand townspeople along with students of schools and colleges took to the street to protest alleged neglect by engineer Shafique.
The protesters laid a siege to the power station and burnt tyres on roads around it.
As Sahfique 'misbehaved' with some of them, they stormed into his office and confined him to his room for several hours till police rescued and took him to the police station.
The protesters also damaged the power office and torched a vehicle. They also at one stage attacked the police station.
Later, the protesters split into several groups and spread in the whole town. Some of them blocked roads to the town by putting up barricades and setting fire to tyres.
The Khulna-bound `Sagardari Express' inter-city train also came under attack while it was crossing Alamdanga rail station. They detained the train for two hours and ransacked several compartments and the engine.
Additional police rushed in and charged baton to disperse the protesters in police and rail station areas triggering sporadic clashes.
The clashes continued for 6 hours leaving 50 people including upazila unit AL leader Delwar Hossain and seven policemen injured.
As the violence escalated further, riot police and Rab were called in. Police fired at least 100 rubber bullets and 20 teargas canisters to drive the rampaging protesters out of streets after about 2 pm.
Engineer Shafiqur Rahman was among a dozen of people arrested by police.
Additional police and Rab were patrolling the town.
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