A thousand protest demanding food aid

The protesters in both districts told reporters that they were going hungry and unemployed since the shutdown began on March 26.

Officials said they managed to provide the protesters with packs of relief goods in Tangail within hours, but it may take a couple of days for the goods to reach the villagers in Dinajpur.

About 700 people from Sadarpur and Darbarpur villages kept Dinajpur-Rangpur highway in Textile Mills area blocked for nearly five hours in Dinajpur town after 9:00am.

They left after the army, police and civil administration officers promised them supply of the relief goods as soon as possible.

But Deputy Commissioner Mahmudul Hasan of the district later said officials were preparing a list of the villagers and it may take a day or two before they could hand them the goods.

In Tangail after 10:00am, over 300 villagers from Dewlabari area of Ghatail kept Tangail-Mymensingh highway blocked for around one and a half hours.

The villagers occupied the road in Porabari area chanting slogans and holding placards reading, "Be kind to us, we are hungry".

Anjan Kumar Sarker, upazila nirbahi officer in Ghatail, said after freeing the road officials made a list of the demonstrators and in the evening over 200 packs of essentials were delivered to them.

Both demonstrations caused long tailbacks of trucks and lorries on the highways.

Our correspondents in Dinajpur and Tangail contributed to the report.