‘Security forced us to leave’

“When we got the chance to climb up to the Padma Bridge and take photos, some members of the law enforcement team forced us to leave.”

Robin Mia was upset after he was denied access to visit the much-awaited bridge on the inauguration day on Saturday.

He and 15-16 of his friends travelled to the Padma Bridge on motorcycles at noon on Saturday to witness the historic mom

Curious people hop on the Padma bridge by climbing the wall Bangla Tribune

The premier unveiled the nameplate of the bridge at the Mawa end of Munshiganj.

Immediately after the inauguration, the first stream of people flowed from the Mawa end to the bridge.

Some even climbed onto the bridge on motorcycles. At that time, members of the security forces were not seen obstructing any of the crowds from climbing on to the bridge.

Some were also seen getting to the bridge through the boundary fence on the side.

However, an hour later, at around 2:15pm, the crowd was seen being pushed back from the bridge by the law enforcers. 

At around 3pm, the whole bridge became empty.

However, no one in charge of security agreed to comment on it.

Another visitor Borsha Akhter said: “My husband and I came here all the way from Lalbagh to witness this historical day by walking on the Padma Bridge. But all in vain.”

Laily Akhter came with her whole family to walk on the bridge, only to wait for four and a half hours without being able to do so.

She had hoped that late in the evening the security would let her family walk on the bridge.