Obstruction in Bankkhali River Eviction Drive: Excavator Damaged, Roads Blocked

Tensions erupted in Cox’s Bazar over an operation to clear encroachments along the Bankkhali River. Yesterday morning around 10 a.m., when the district administration and the BWTA (Bangladesh Water Transport Authority) jointly launched an eviction drive in the Nuniyarchhara area, encroachers and their supporters obstructed the operation. Several hundred men and women protested, demanding that the drive be stopped. At multiple locations, they blocked roads for nearly two hours by burning tires, placing carts, and throwing tree stumps. During the unrest, an excavator used in the eviction drive was vandalized. As a result, the eviction operation could not proceed.