Terri Bazar traders observe strike for two hours

Our Correspondent
CHATTOGRAM, June 2: Traders observed two hours strike and blocked roads at Rerri Bazar today protesting seizure of clothes and harassment by members of law enforcement agencies in the name of raids.
They also formed a human chain and held a protest meeting halting traffic on the busy Terri Bazar and adjacent roads for three hours causing sufferings to the shoppers and commuters.
Shoppers and witnesses said movement of vehicles had been suspended there due to the protest that began at 2:00pm.
A team of Task Force raided different super markets and shops at Terry Bazar on May 31.
They seized clothes worth Tk 3.5 million from different shops at the city's clothes trading hub alleging that the goods were imported without paying duties.
During the raid, they harassed traders and refused to give any seizure list for the confiscated clothes, traders said.
They also alleged that the members of the law enforcement agencies accompanying the Task Force briefly detained two employees of a shop when they asked for a seizure list.
During the over two-hour-long drive, the law enforcers also opened blank fire when the traders protested their action and demanded return of the confiscated clothes.
On Saturday, over 1,000 people, including the retail and wholesale traders and their employees, shut down their business establishments from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
They staged street demonstration at the city's largest clothing sales centre and formed a human chain.
They also held a protest rally against harassment of traders by the Task Force, comprising Coast Guard and police, and opening blank fire during the peaceful protest on May 31.
Thousands of people, mostly women who arrived at Terri Bazar along with their children for shopping ahead of Eid, remained stuck in the snarl for more than two hours.
Panel Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation Chowdhury Hasan Mahmud Hashni was present at today's demonstration as the chief guest and addressed the protest rally.
He said the law enforcers can conduct raids against those who dodge government taxes at their business establishments.
But any harassment to the honest businesses in the name of raids is not acceptable, he viewed.
"We should find out if anybody in the administration and law enforcement agencies are engaged in any kind of subversive activities to spoil the image of the government," he cautioned.
Their action will enrage the common people and innocent traders, he warned.
He suspected that harassment of innocent people is part of a ploy to provoke them raise their voice against the government months ahead of the national parliamentary election.
Addressing the rally, President of Terri Bazar Businessmen's Association Aminul Islam Amin alleged that the task force members headed by coast guard have looted clothes from different shops worth Tk 3.5 million on Thursday noon.
Because of their raids the businesses of Terri Bazar have incurred financial losses to the tune of Tk 500 million in a single day on Thursday, he claimed.
The businesses want probe into the opening of fire and the damage done to the business, he added.
He said that the shopkeepers had furnished necessary documents of business to the law enforcers but the raiders did not pay heed to their valid documents.
They also rejected the traders' requests to give seizure lists to the affected shopkeepers, he said.
"The salesmen protested the move and shut down the shops, obstructing the raid," the speaker said.
The meeting was also addressed by Chattogram Metropolitan Shop Owners Association President Abul Kashem, Terri Bazar Businessmen Association advisor Md Ali, CIP, former president Osman Gani Chowdhury, Secretary Ahmed Hossain, former secretaries Abdul Mannan, Mostaq Ahmed Chowdhury and Arif Iftekhar.
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