BNP gets police permission for sit-in demonstration at Naya Paltan

Police have given the opposition BNP the all-clear to hold a sit-in demonstration scheduled for Jan 11 outside its Naya Paltan headquarters. 

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruq said on Tuesday they had given permission on the condition that the protest programme will not be disrupting traffic on the road. 

Earlier, police had refused the BNP's request to rally at the same venue on Dec 10 as part of the party’s anti-government movement. 

This led to tension. One person was killed in violent clashes between police and BNP workers at Naya Paltan in the run-up to the rally. Hundreds of BNP leaders and activists, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, had been arrested. 

Later, the party rallied at Golapbagh and announced a series of programmes for several demands, including an election-time caretaker government after the resignation of the Awami League administration. 

BNP leaders held a meeting with Faruq at Bailey Road on Tuesday to discuss the sit-in programme. 

The party's Vice Chairman AZM Zahid Hossain said they would organise the programme at Naya Paltan from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday. “We’ll demonstrate peacefully,” 

“They [BNP] will have to take the responsibility if traffic is hampered,” added DMP commissioner Faruq. 

The allies of the BNP will also demonstrate in separate venues simultaneously. 

The Ganatantra Mancha, an alliance of anti-government political parties, will stage a sit-in outside the National Press Club, the 12-Party Alliance in front of the Bijay Nagar water tank, and the alliance of like-minded nationalists will hold the protest at Purana Paltan, according to their leaders.