15 hurt as cricket fans clash with cops over tickets

Dhaka, Mar 5 (UNB)- At least 15 people were injured as cricket fans went on the rampage and clashed with police in front of the United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) branch in the city’s Mirpur area after failing to collect tickets for the Bangladesh-India Asia Cup final cricket match. Witnesses said some 8000-10,000 cricket lovers had remained in queues at the Mirpur-10 branch of UCBL to collect tickets since early Saturday. As the bank authorities could not start selling tickets even as the time struck 11am, the ticket-seekers waiting in queues burst into an agitation and threw brickbats at the branch building. On information, police rushed in and charged baton to disperse them around 11:25 am. As the law enforcers tried to disperse them, a chase and counter- chase took place between them and the ticket seekers, triggering a clash that left 15 people injured. Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse them. Later, the agitating fans entered the alleys in the area and vandalised some vehicles. Traffic on the busy road from Mirpur Golchattar to Mirpur-12 bus stand came to a halt for nearly one hour following the incident. Police also detained 8/10 people from the spot. While talking to reporters UCBL Mirpur-10 branch assistant officer Khan Mohiuddin said “We always start selling tickets from 10am. As we didn’t receive tickets from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), we could not start selling in time.” Responding to a question, the bank official said normally 10-15 percent of tickets are sold from the branch. Additional deputy commissioner (Mirpur zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud said UCBL bank’s statement over the number of tickets differ with the BCB’s statement. “We have requested the bank authorities to start ticket selling immediately,” Masud said. Responding to a question about the black marketing of tickets, the police officer said they are monitoring to prevent black marketing of tickets. Meanwhile, the UCBL Mirpur branch started selling tickets at around 5:00 pm and closed its counter after selling around 500 tickets, said ADC Masud.