Toll plaza blocked with oars in hand, cocktail explosions and vehicle vandalism

Leaders and activists of the banned Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League have staged a program by blocking the southern toll plaza of the Padma Bridge in the Naodoba area of Jazira, Shariatpur. During this time, incidents of cocktail explosions and vandalism of several vehicles also occurred.
The scenes of this program spread through live broadcasts from various social media IDs, including the Facebook ID of Danib Bin Iqbal, son of Iqbal Hossain Apu, former Member of Parliament for Shariatpur-1 constituency, around 1 a.m. early Tuesday.
In videos circulated on social media, several thousand people were seen standing in front of the southern toll plaza of the Padma Bridge with oars in hand, blocking the road. During this time, they chanted various slogans. The toll plaza operations were seen halted for about an hour in the video. As a result, vehicles were stuck on both sides of the bridge, disrupting traffic movement.

During this time, the sounds of several cocktail explosions were heard. Alongside this, scenes of vandalism of several vehicles were also seen in the video. However, it could not be immediately confirmed who was involved in the cocktail explosions and vehicle vandalism.

In the video, protesters could be heard chanting various slogans including "Joy Bangla," "Joy Bangabandhu," and in the names of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Member of Parliament Iqbal Hossain Apu.

Meanwhile, as people began arriving from various directions to join the blockade, police members locked the main gate of the Padma Bridge (South) Police Station and took position inside. Although attempts were made to contact the station officials regarding this incident, their comments could not be obtained.

In order to seek comment on this matter, multiple attempts were made to contact Md. Abdus Salam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Padma Bridge South Police Station, over mobile phone, but he did not answer the calls.