Saudi returnees stage demo for tickets again

Hundreds Saudi returnees -- stranded in the country for over seven months due to the pandemic – are staging demonstration again on Sunday in front of Saudi Airlines office at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel on the capital demanding tickets for returning to their workplaces in Gulf country.

The agitated expats have broken the main gate of the hotel at once stage of demonstration.

Hundreds of expats gathered there in the morning as the airline authorities announced that they would distribute tokens today for tickets.

The Saudi returnees have been demonstrating since September 16 for their return tickets. Visas of many of them have already expired.

Home to more than 22 lakh Bangladeshis, Saudi Arabia is the prime destination of Bangladeshi migrant workers and the biggest remittance-generating country for Bangladesh.

Many Bangladeshi expatriates came to the country on vacation from Saudi Arabia before the closure of flights amid the pandemic.

They remained stranded as only few chartered and specially arranged flights were operated between the two countries amid the pandemic.

The Bangladesh government suspended regular flight operations with all countries, except China, from mid-March to contain Covid-19 spread.