Gas price hike protest: 15 injured in clash with police
“We tried to go to the energy ministry to raise our concerns over the gas price hike, but police prevented and scuffled with us,” said Ruhin Hossain Prince, secretary of Bangladesh Communist Party
At least fifteen people - protesting the recent gas price hike - were injured in a clash with police outside the Energy Ministry in the capital on Sunday.
“We tried to go to the energy ministry to raise our concerns over the gas price hike, but police prevented and scuffled with us,” said Ruhin Hossain Prince, secretary of Bangladesh Communist Party, a party which belongs to Left Democratic Alliance (LDA).
He also claimed that the prime minister has not taken any initiative to eliminate corruption from the energy sector, rather she fabricated the causes behind the recent price hike.
To press home their demand of lowering gas price, LDA activists started their protest march from the National Press Club, in a bid to lay seize the energy ministry office.
On their way, police obstructed them using a barricade and forced them to leave the scene which eventually turned into a clash.
Denying any injuries to protesters, law enforcers said they just tried to prevent them from breaking through a barricade.
Last month, the state-run Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission raised gas price by 33 percent on an average for all consumers.
Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the price increase was necessary to sustain the country’s economic growth.
The new price has already gone into effect from 1 July.
And the LDA observed a half-day strike in the capital in protest of the decision on 7 July.