Street vendors clash with DMCH security guards
Street vendors near Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) clashed with hospital security guards during an eviction drive against them yesterday afternoon.
The vendors wielding sticks chased Ansar members who are responsible for guarding the hospital. They entered the hospital and shattered glass doors of the hospital's emergency unit creating panic among the waiting patients there, said Mushfiqur Rahman, deputy director of DMCH.
Three hospital staff and two Ansar members were injured, he said.
Witnesses said an eviction team led by Executive Magistrate of Dhaka South City Corporation Mohammad Atul Mondal demolished the makeshift stalls set up in front of the hospital's emergency unit gate around 4:00pm.
After clearing the gate, the team went to hospital's outdoor gate adjacent to the Shaheed Minar. Ansar members assisted the drive.
An Ansar member preferring anonymity said the unruly hawkers attacked them as soon as they came back to the emergency unit gate from the outdoor one.
The hawkers fled away after the clash.
Talking to The Daily Star, Magistrate Atul said they carried out the drive on request of the hospital authorities.
Vendors had not only grabbed the footpaths, they also set up stalls taking a portion of the road in front of the hospital's emergency gate. The drive was made as per the direction of the health minister for smooth movement of the patients, said Atul.
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