Workers and employees protest at Chittagong Port

Retired Maritime Advisor Brigadier General Sakhawat Hossain was confronted by protesting workers and employees while attending an emergency meeting to resolve the ongoing indefinite strike and extreme impasse over NCT lease at Chittagong Port. Today, Thursday (February 5), at around 10:15 am, hundreds of workers and employees protested around the advisor’s car on the way to the port building. Despite tight police security, the protesters blocked the advisor’s convoy and continued to chant slogans for a long time. Later, when the advisor entered the port building on foot, the protesters kept chanting ‘fake fake’ slogans from all sides, resulting in an unpleasant situation.
Meanwhile, all port activities are still completely closed due to the indefinite strike called by the Chittagong Port Protection Movement Council. No ship coming from the outer anchorage has yet been able to anchor at the port jetty. Shipping Advisor Sakhawat Hossain arrived at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport directly from Dhaka at 10:15 am to discuss the impasse. At approximately 10:15 am, the vehicle carrying the advisor reached the customs intersection near the port building. Despite tight police security in front and behind, the workers and employees started protesting as soon as they saw his vehicle.
Incidentally, the decision to come to Chittagong Port was taken by the shipping advisor last night. After receiving this news, the protesting workers and employees started gathering on the road in front of the port building since morning. Law enforcement and the port’s own security guards have also been active since morning. Even then, the advisor’s vehicle faced resistance at the customs intersection in front of the port building. After being stuck for about 12 minutes, the police formed a security cordon around it and took the vehicles inside the port building.
Humayun Kabir, coordinator of the Chittagong Port Protection Movement Council, said that all activities at the port are completely closed today due to the indefinite strike they called. The movement of goods from the outer anchorage to the port jetty has been stopped. Ships arriving to unload goods are stuck at the jetty. No goods are being supplied from the jetty. It is worth noting that an indefinite strike has started at the port since yesterday, Wednesday morning, demanding the suspension of the process of leasing the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to the United Arab Emirates-based company DP World and an end to harassment and repression to suppress the movement. The strike has been observed for eight hours every day for the previous three days. This movement has been going on for 6 consecutive days.