The hawkers, who were evicted from Bangabandhu area approximately four months ago, started blocking the roads with WASA's sewer pipes from Zero Point to the Abdul Ghani Road, facing the Secretariat. Later, they blocked the North South Road in front of the Golap Shah Mazar.
Due to the protest, traffic started to freeze since around 11 pm on Tuesday and it turned chaotic when the protest started to take over the road near Gulistan's Bangabandhu Square around 1 pm.
Traffic from Paltan to Sadarghat via Phulbaria, Gulistan to Motijheel, Gulistan to Dhanmondi via Paltan and Gulistan to Mouchak-Moghbazaar area went on freezing, soon afterwards.
Upon asking the reason behind the protest, a hawker said they had been taken off from the Bangabandhu Avenue for a couple of months now, and they were supposed to get the direction from the Mayor of Dhaka South on Tuesday regarding their fate. As they felt of being ignored, they had no other choices left than this blockage.
The protest left many people waiting for hours to avail transports towards their destinations. Those who were successful, they had to suffer later due to unimaginable traffic jam.
As it was the very first day of the holy month of Ramadan, many people helplessly suffered on the road in this scorching heat of summer and failed to have first iftaar with their families.