Fans clash with police over World Cup tickets

ESPNcricinfo staff

January 2, 2011

Cricket fans clashed with police in Dhaka in the rush to buy tickets for the 2011 World Cup to be held in the sub-continent next month. The tickets went on sale on Sunday at 80 branches of the private City Bank and the state-owned Agrani Bank after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made 15,000 per-match available for the public. The fans, reportedly, were angered after being told that only 500 tickets would be sold per branch as a result of the strict scrutiny over buyers' identification papers. A few fans and a photographer are known to have suffered minor injuries in the protests.

"They raised slogans and held demonstrations. We dispersed the protesters and maintained calm," police inspector Shah Alam told AFP. Bangladesh will be hosting eight matches during the competition.