Shuttered shops dot Shonir Akhra

Yousuf Ali, a lemonade seller in the capital’s Shonir Akhra, had to shut his lemonade stand down for the past seven days.

It was the only option.

After all, Shonir Akhra was the site of one of the deadliest clashes amid the countrywide protests, sparked by the death of two locals.

Ali’s focus, however, is not on the protests; rather it is on the aftermath, the consequences.

This one lemonade stand is the only thing that keeps his five-member family running.

Desperate to put food on the table, Yousuf opened the stand at 11am this morning, despite the apprehension visible on his face.

But all his efforts bore no fruit. There were no parched lips around.

“I’m afraid to even stand here right now. Police are not allowing anyone to stay here. But I have no other option left. I must feed my children,” he said.

The streets around Jatrabari, Shonir Akhra, Rayerbagh, Signboard, Sanarpara and Chattogram road were also mostly empty this morning.

Even though shops inside some alleys stayed open, business in even some of the important points remained closed.

Meanwhile, many shopkeepers in these areas kept their shops closed as not many people came to the streets amid the ongoing curfew and the strict monitoring by law enforcers.

A woman opened a small makeshift hotel selling rice and curries around Sanarpara area in the morning.

She said she was able to sell items worth Tk500, less than half of what she would usually make.

Fearing that the law enforcers will shut her shop down, the woman was unwilling to be named.

“Most of my customers are transport workers, mostly drivers and assistants of buses and trucks. They are not working right now. It is getting very difficult to survive amid this fear and uncertainty,” she told The Business Standard.

Meanwhile, a few transport workers were seen hiding behind a truck after seeing the law enforcers’ vehicles patrolling the area.

As the law enforcers’ moved away, they came out and said all of them worked for Labbaik Paribahan bus.

They also expressed uncertainty about the future.

Mohammad Sohel Mia, a rickshaw puller who lives in Madaninagar with his family of four, started working again this morning after a seven day pause due to fear of life amid violence and clash.

“There are no passengers on the roads. Those who are there don’t feel safe commuting in a rickshaw. “

So why was he out under these circumstances?

“I ran out of people I can seek loans from and started pulling rickshaws again from today,” he replied.

While talking to this correspondent in noon, he said all he could earn in the first few hours was Tk60.

Meanwhile, small traders in this area said there are not enough customers because people are not willing to come out of their house amid a curfew.

They also said there has been a fear among the people about possible arrests, and such a situation is not helpful for their businesses.