Police foil left parties’ march towards

Special Correspondent: Dhaka, May-17,

Police on Tuesday foiled a bid  of Leftist Democratic Alliance(LDA) activists to besiege the Commerce Ministry as a protest against soaring prices of daily essentials including soyabean oil.

LDA activists gathered in front of the secretariat in the morning with placards and banners as part of their prescheduled programme.

They started chanting slogans seeking government steps for lowering prices of essentials, removal of the Commerce Minister for ‘his failure’, action against business syndicates, and starting rationing system in cities and villages.

Police put up a barricade in front of the secretariat and barred the left parties’ activists from entering the secretariat.

“As the activists started approaching to besiege the ministry around 1:30 pm they had a scuffle with police but no one was hurt,” said Moudud Howladar, Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh police station.

Later the protesters left the place amid police intervention, he said.

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