Some leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League engaged in a scuffle over seats on stage at the inaugural ceremony of Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover, reports bdnews24.com
Dhaka South Mayor Sayeed Khokon has blamed Dhaka South Awami League General Secretary Shah-e-Alam Murad for the incident on Thursday morning.
Murad said the situation developed when Abul Kalam Azad, an aide to the mayor, 'behaved badly' with his supporters.
Mayor Khokon is also a leader of the ruling party city unit.
On Thursday, leaders and activists of the ruling party started to gather in front of the stage raised for the flyover inauguration in the morning.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the flyover at noon through a video call.
Around 10:15am, the tension spread among the Awami League workers. It went physical very soon.
Police tried to drive them out of the stage to bring the situation under control.
At one stage, Additional Local Government and Engineering Secretary Md Raisuddin ordered all other than LGED officials to leave the stage.
At that point, Mayor Khokon got on the stage and urged calm. The situation improved at the time, but the supporters of Khokon and Murad raised slogans against each other.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia then intervened and asked all to calm down in the loudspeaker.
The rivals calmed down fully when the prime minister got connected to the programme through the video call, broadcast live on a large screen on the stage, at 12:03pm.
