BANGLADESH

Officials and employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines demonstrated in front of the flag carrier's headquarters on Friday as its board of directors held a meeting there.

Only on Apr 10, the staff called off their strike after the civil aviation minister assured them the board would be dissolved as per their demand.

Some 200 Biman employees, under the banner of Biman Banchao Oikya Parishad, took part in the demonstration on Friday evening.

Additional police were deployed at the scene to avert any unpleasant incident.

"The civil aviation minister had assured us of dissolving Biman board of directors. Even after that, the board of directors has called a meeting in the evening," Biman Banchao Oikya Parishad publicity secretary Harun-or-Rashid told bdnews24.com.

"We demonstrated in front of Balaka Bhaban for one and a half hours starting from 4pm protesting the meeting," he added.

Shamshul Azad, a security official of Biman, told bdnews24.com that all of the board members reached the airliner's headquarters before 6pm to attend the meeting.

Airport Police Station sub-inspector (SI) said the protesters left the scene just after 6pm after staging their programme peacefully.

The Parishad on Apr 3 had called a 48-hour strike from Apr 16 demanding resignation of the chairman and dissolution of the board.

The pilots, cabin crew, officials and employees of Biman have been protesting since Mar 3 to press for their demands, terming the board corrupt and incompetent.