Thousands gather for BNP rally in Dhaka amid fuel price hike

The rally is protesting the government’s decision to hike fuel prices, rising inflation and political repression

Thousands of activists have gathered at Dhaka’s Naya Paltan for a BNP mass rally.

The Dhaka North and Dhaka South branches of the BNP organised the gathering to protest the recent hike in fuel prices, rising inflation and "political repression".

Many police and law enforcement personnel were deployed in the Naya Paltan area.

The rally is being led by Dhaka Metropolitan South BNP Convener Abdus Salam.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is the chief guest at the event. He, alongside members of the Central Standing Committee and leaders of the party’s affiliate organisations, will speak at the event.

The BNP’s last rally in Naya Paltan was in November 2021, when they demanded that the party’s chief, Khaleda Zia, be allowed to fly abroad for medical treatment despite her prison sentence.

A stage has been arranged on five trucks parked in front of the BNP headquarters. Banners at the event protest the fuel price hike, load shedding, the increase in transport costs, inflation in prices of essentials, and the deaths of two BNP activists in clashes with the police.

The banners also had large portraits of Khaleda Zia, her husband and party founder Ziaur Rahman, and their son, Tarique Rahman.

The rally was organised after securing police permission, metropolitan BNP officials said.

Over 100 megaphones have been set up on both sides of the road from the Fakirerpul intersection on Dainik Bangla Road to the Kakrail intersection on Bijoy Nagar Road.

Activists from various parts of the capital marched through the area to join the rally.