Shawdesh desk:

The Saudi Airlines authorities in Dhaka resumed sale of tickets and distribution of tokens for Bangladeshi expatriates on Sunday morning after a brief disruption.

Police charged batons on some Bangladeshi expatriates in front of Saudi Airlines office in Karwan Bazar to control crowd.

Witnesses said a number of Bangladeshi expatriates thronged in front of the Saudi Airlines office early Sunday. As the gates of the office opened in the morning, a huge number of expatriates started to rush in around 9:30am.

Later, police charged batons to disperse them.

Abdur Rashid, officer-in-charge of Hatirjheel Police Station, said additional policemen have been deployed to avert further trouble.

The sale of tickets and distribution of token remained suspended for some time. Later, the authorities concerned resumed issuing tickets in the afternoon.

Bangladeshi expatriates in Saudi Arabia have been eagerly waiting to return to their workplace in the kingdom as countries ease coronavirus restrictions.

They came home with return tickets but could not go back due to a shortage of Biman flights amid the pandemic.

Saudi Airlines started issuing tickets for Bangladeshi expatriates on Sep 24, a day after migrant workers demonstrated in Dhaka for return tickets to the kingdom.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the most popular destination for migrant workers from Bangladesh and accounts for the highest percentage of inbound remittance.