5 Ansar members injured in attacks during Savar footpath eviction drive

At least five members of the Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) were injured, two of them critically, after hawkers allegedly attacked them in two separate incidents during a footpath eviction drive in Savar yesterday (8 May).

The attacks took place in the Savar bus stand area in the morning and again in the afternoon while Ansar members were conducting drives to keep footpaths free from illegal occupation and ease public movement, according to police and upazila administration officials.

The critically injured were identified as Ansar platoon commander Md Shamsuzzaman and member Jalis Mahmud Munna.

Shamsuzzaman, who suffered injuries to his head and eyes, was sent to the National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital in Dhaka, while Munna was admitted to Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar with injuries to his head and other parts of the body.

According to an injured Ansar member, the upazila Ansar-VDP had been working for the last one and a half months to keep footpaths in the Savar bus stand area free from encroachment and reduce traffic congestion.

He alleged that tensions had been brewing for several days as some hawkers behaved aggressively toward Ansar personnel.

Around 10am yesterday, Ansar members asked several hawkers illegally occupying a footpath beside the Dhaka-Aricha Highway near Majidpur Road to leave the area. The hawkers allegedly responded with verbal abuse, forcing the Ansar members to withdraw temporarily.

Later, around 11am, Ansar members returned to the same spot and found the hawkers still operating there. When they attempted another eviction drive, some hawkers allegedly assaulted Ansar members Anas and Sajjad.

The situation escalated further around 4:15pm when a group of 25 to 30 people armed with sticks allegedly attacked Ansar personnel during another eviction drive near Savar New Market, leaving several members injured.

According to the Savar Upazila Administration, hawkers had long occupied the footpaths illegally, causing severe disruption to pedestrian movement and traffic flow in the area. Despite repeated warnings and previous eviction drives, many hawkers reportedly returned to the footpaths after operations ended.

To maintain order, 20 Ansar members had been deployed in two shifts in coordination with the local administration and market authorities.

Upazila Ansar-VDP Officer Anisur Rahman claimed the attacks were "planned" and carried out "like criminals" by dishonest hawkers resisting the eviction efforts.

Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Saiful Islam said the administration had learned about the attacks and was working to identify those responsible and bring them under the law.

Savar Model Police Station Inspector (Operations) Md Helal Uddin said police had already received a complaint and legal action was underway.