9 Sitakunda slum dwellers held from press club
Police detained nine slum dwellers when they gathered at Chattogram Press Club to hold a press conference protesting the eviction drive at Salimpur slums and police firing on the slum dwellers.
A team of Kotwali and Sitakunda police led by Executive Magistrate Touhidul Islam detained the slum dwellers around 3pm Sunday (11 September) and handed them over to Kotwali Police Station.
At least 30 people, including a member of Bangladesh Ansar, were injured when police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters during an eviction drive at Salimpur slums on Thursday (8 September).
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The slum dwellers announced to hold a press conference today at Chattogram Press Club protesting the police action.
However, the district administration and police took position in press club area and detained nine slum dwellers when they arrived the press club area carrying banners.
"All the detainees are residents of Ali Nagar. They were plotting against the government. Evidence of involvement in the conspiracy was found on their mobile phones," Executive Magistrate Touhidul Islam said.
Earlier in the day, police detained 61 slum dwellers who were on their way to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) following a clash with law enforcers that took place last week during an eviction drive at Salimpur slums in Sitakunda, Chattogram.
The residents of Jangal Salimpur slums, and the two buses carrying them, were detained and seized from the adjacent area of the Sitakunda municipality headquarters on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway during the early hours of Sunday.
On 12 September, a meeting, led by the prime minister's principal secretary Ahmad Kaikaus, is scheduled to be held at the Prime Minister's Office to formulate a master plan for taking up multiple developmental projects by clearing 3,100 acres of land in Salimpur jungle.
The Chittagong district administration wants to build several government facilities, including central jail, Novo theatre, hospital, national information centre and a night safari park there.
The eviction drive began to free up space. In August, the district administration demolished nearly 200 houses of 170 low-income families in Ali Nagar near Chinnamul in nine eviction raids. At the time, the administration ordered the rest of the residents to move out of the place.
