An armed gang led by an AL leader on Saturday evening forcibly evicted 44 poor Christian families living in a slum at Baptist Mission Road of the city.

The evicted families, protesting the eviction, locked the Baptist church across the road, and threatened to stop prayers there till their rehabilitation.

The gang during the eviction claimed that they had purchased the land from the Bangladesh Baptist Church Trust Association and was in possession of a court order. Earlier the court had issued an injunction against eviction of the poor families.

Locals and witnesses said, armed cadres and labourers led by Shafikul Alam Gulzar, councilor of BCC ward-11 and former district treasurer of Awami League, evicted the 44 landless families from 2.53 acres of land.

As soon as the eviction was complete, the perpetrators hung a signboard of proposed South Wave Medical College and Children Hospital there.

After the incident, the poor families took shelter in the adjacent Baptist church compound and started ringing the bell. They later locked the church in the evening.

Johnson Merry Guha, assistant secretary of Baptist Church claimed that the grabbed land was donated by British citizen Reverend Gordon Soddy to the Bangladesh Baptist Association, a subsidiary of Baptist Church Trustee in 1969 and it was non-transferable or non-saleable.

The land was ear-

marked for the ultra poor families of the community. A case is pending with the court against the Olympic Properties Limited, who claimed to have purchased it from the Church Trustee, Guha added.

However, Ansar Ali Hawlader, a director of the Olympic Properties Ltd, said that Reverend Asim Kumar Baroi, secretary, Bangladesh Baptist Church Trust Association sold the property for Tk 8.82 crore on February 8, 2012 and they plan to construct a private medical college and childhospital at the site.

When they came to know about the deal, the Christian slum dwellers, claiming ownership of the land, lodged a case and got a temporary injunction.

But the district judge court vacated that injunction, Howlader claimed.

Contacted, AL leader Shafiqul Islam Gulzar admitted that he was pres-ent at the spot but declined to explain his role on the day.

Golam Rahman, sub inspector of Barisal Kotwali police station, said police visited the spot and asked both sides to maintain law and order and follow the instruction of the court.

"We have asked the developer to stay away from the place," he said.

Meanwhile, the Christian community has announced that they would protest the matter and form a human chain in front of the town hall today.