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The unrest surrounding the Bangladesh Premier League – the country’s only franchisee T20 tournament – has continued. Agitated fans have now vandalised and set fire to booths at the swimming complex next to Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla Stadium after they failed to secure match tickets.
Customers had raised a number of allegations regarding the tickets before the tournament even started. The day before the competition kicked off, ticket-seekers held a protest in front of the main gates. That unrest continued on the day of the first match and into Thursday.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board had announced that the lion’s share of tickets for the tournament would only be available online. In consideration of regular spectators, they also made them available at seven designated branches of Modhumoti Bank. Then, on Monday, it was also announced that spectators could purchase tickets in person at the Swimming Complex booth next to the stadium.
Fans flocked to the Swimming Complex booth from Thursday morning in the hope of securing a ticket. Some were able to buy them, but many others weren’t. When they failed to get them after the long wait, it resulted in unrest. Slogans were chanted, shouting was heard, and insults were hurled. Amid the noise, a few members of the agitated crowd broke through the iron barrier and entered.
Around noon, they set fire to the awning used for the temporary booth. The fire did not spread as there was a Fire Service station nearby. The fire was quickly extinguished after receiving the report, said Mirpur Fire Service Senior Station Officer Shahjahan Siraj.
"We received word at 12:07pm that the BPL ticket counter at the Swimming Complex had been set on fire. A team of us rushed there and extinguished the fire, so the fire did not spread. There was not much damage due to the fire. However, the agitated crowd vandalised a lot."
The glass of the reception room outside the main gate of the Swimming Complex had been broken. In addition, several windows outside the main building and the glass near the stairs were also broken by brickbats. A Swimming Federation employee was seen taking a video of the scene. They did not wish to speak on the matter without consulting senior authorities.
Even after the Fire Service personnel left, the agitated spectators continued to protest. They gathered in front of the counter of the Swimming Complex and kept shouting various slogans criticising the BCB.
One ticket-seeker complained that the ticket price was higher than the original price noted at the counter.
"I came from Bhola today. I stood in line from 7am. In the morning, I saw that some tickets had been sold. After a while, I heard that the price had increased. Tickets worth Tk 200 taka were being sold for Tk 600, Tk 800. When they saw that no one was buying at the higher prices, they stopped selling them."
Attempts were made to contact several BCB officials by phone regarding the higher hike at the counter, but they could not be reached.
Another spectator named Arafat Islam expressed his anger over the online ticket sales.
"I saw in the news that tickets are being sold online this time. I have heard from many people here that there are tickets online.”
He pointed to his phone.
“I don't have a smartphone. How can I buy tickets? They should give us tickets at the counter."
Around 1pm, as Arafat was registering his complaints, the BCB ticket site was still selling tickets for Tk 300 in the northern and southern galleries. A short while later, only the Tk 500 tickets at the Club House and the Tk 2,000 tickets at the Grand Stand were available on the site.
After the game started, the angry spectators from the Swimming Complex came to Gate No. 5 of the stadium, where they chanted slogans and abuse. A tense situation prevailed and traffic was disrupted.
After 2:30pm, a group of spectators tried to conduct a sit-in protest by occupying the road from Mirpur-2 to Mirpur-10 near Gate No. 5. The police then dispersed the crowd with a baton charge.
The police also detained at least two people on suspicion of scalping tickets on the black market.
The situation did not return to normal after the baton charge. The ticket seekers kept trying to hold another demonstration.