Published : 30 Dec 2022, 04:59 PM
Updated : 30 Dec 2022, 09:28 PM
The BNP has announced a sit-in in all divisional cities for Jan 11 after a protest march it staged simultaneously with its allies in Dhaka as part of their anti-government movement.
The opposition party will stage the sit-in for four hours from 10am, senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said on Friday, hoping their allies will also demonstrate at that time.
In Dhaka, the BNP will hold its sit-in outside their Naya Paltan headquarter, Mosharraf said after the protest march that began in the afternoon amid tight security.
The BNP leaders and activists marched from Naya Paltan to Moghbazar via Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh and Mouchak for over an hour. The protesters carried national and party flags.
As they were preparing to take out the procession, Mosharraf accused the ruling Awami League of trying to “prevent people from joining the protest march”. “You [Awami League] were on guard, but you couldn’t keep people at home. This is an example of how people will take to the street to send you off through an uprising.”
The BNP organised the protest march for 10 demands, including an election-time caretaker government and the unconditional release of their Chairperson Khaleda, who is out on suspended sentences in corruption cases.
The party recently bolstered its protests with the next election a year away, but many senior leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, were arrested recently over violence in protests.
ALLIES ALSO PLAN SIT-IN
The Gonotantra Mancha, an alliance of anti-government political parties, said it was also planning to stage a three-hour sit-in protest in Dhaka and the rest of the country as part of the opposition campaign to topple the ruling Awami League.
The alliance announced the programme at a meeting prior to a mass procession.
“We'll hold a sit-in programme in 10 divisional cities on Jan 11, seeking the release of all political prisoners, including Khaleda Zia, Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas, who have been arrested in fabricated cases," Bhasani Followers Council Convener Sheikh Rafiqul Islam, a leader of the Gonotantra Moncho, said.
In Dhaka, the sit-in programme will take place at the National Press Club from 11 am to 2 pm, according to him.
The Gonotantra Mancha is among several political groups that are supporting the BNP's anti-government campaign. They plan simultaneous protests instead of forming a greater alliance.
Ahead of the march on Friday, the Gonotantra Mancha held a rally at the National Press Club to protest the government's 'suppression' of voting rights. At least seven parties that are part of the platform participated in the rally.
After the rally, the group led a procession through Paltan that ended at Kakrail's Nightingale intersection.
"No fair election can be held under this conniving government. That's why we want to force this government to step down. After they step down, an interim government can be formed to oversee the election. There's no alternative to that," said Saiful Haque, general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers' Party of Bangladesh.
“If a fair election takes place in 50 percent of the constituencies, the Awami League candidates will lose.”
