Police have arrested a total of 72 residents of Alinagar Chhinnomul slum in Sitakunda in a case filed over last week's clash with law enforcers during an eviction drive.
Of them, 63 people were arrested on their way to Dhaka to protest at a high-level meeting on the current eviction drive in Alinagar area of Sitakunda upazila, police said.
They were arrested by police in the Sitakunda Municipal area around 1am on Sunday, said Suman Banik, inspector (investigation) of Sitakunda police station.
He said that they were arrested from two buses heading to Dhaka. Many of them are suspected of blocking the Dhaka-Chittagong highway and assaulting police and administrative personnel.
The accused will be taken to court after being checked.
Additionally, nine more were arrested as they gathered at Chittagong Press Club to hold a press conference protesting the eviction drive.
A team of Kotwali and Sitakunda police led by Executive Magistrate Touhidul Islam detained the slum dwellers around 3pm on Sunday and handed them over to Sitakunda police station.
Prior to the slum dwellers holding the press conference, the police had already taken position at the Press Club area.
They held nine protesters and seized banners and mobile phones from them. After investigating through the phones, police let go of three slum dwellers detaining the rest.
What happened so far
On Thursday, when the RAB arrived at the new camp location in Salimpur, a clash took place between locals with administrative authorities and police. Although six policemen were hurt in the incident, locals claimed that at least 30 residents were shot with rubber bullets.
Meanwhile, a Salimpur resident said: “A human chain was formed at the Press Club in Dhaka to protect our land. Four buses were carrying residents to Dhaka. The cops have seized two of those four buses.”
According to local sources, the district administration is carrying out an eviction drive in the illegal settlements constructed by chopping government hills in the remote forest of Salimpur area. Locals were scheduled to go to Dhaka and form a human chain to protest against the drive.
On August 23, residents of Salimpur protested on the disconnection of electricity and water by blocking the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. After a six-hour blockade, police chased them away around 5pm.
The next day, the police filed two cases against 400 people, accusing them of assaulting policemen and damaging government property.
