A pre-scheduled hunger strike by workers aspiring to go to Italy was thwarted by police today.

About 30 workers gathered at 11:00am in front of the VFS Global visa processing centre at Nafi Tower in Gulshan to protest the delay in receiving their passports or visas.

The protesters, frustrated by the wait since August last year, were demanding either the issuance of visas or the immediate return of their passports.

A team from Gulshan Police Station arrived and dispersed the group, asking a four-member team to accompany them to the police station. The team, led by Abdul Quaiyum, explained their grievances to the police. "The police have been informed, and they will take action in this regard," Quaiyum told reporters.

Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Antonio Alessandro, recently acknowledged the backlog issues, attributing delays to problems with individual applications.

"It will take some time, but we hope to receive more human resources in the days to come," Alessandro said.