The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday announced countrywide blockade on Wednesday and dawn-to-dusk hartal on Thursday demanding the cancellation of the election schedule and resignation of the ruling Awami League handing over the power to a poll-time –party-neutral caretaker government.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the fresh programmes at a virtual press conference.
He said that the blockade would begin at 6:00am on Wednesday and end at 6:00am on Thursday while the hartal will be enforced from 6:00am to 6:00pm on Thursday.
Rizvi said that the programmes were also meant for mounting pressure on the government to quit, hold the next election under a non-party neutral government and release party leaders and activists, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
He said that other opposition parties, who have long been carrying out the simultaneous movement with BNP, will also observe similar programmes.
The fresh programmes were announced 14 hours before the end of the oppositions’ ongoing 48-hour blockade which will end at 6:00m on Tuesday.
Rizvi thanked the country’s people and the opposition leaders and activists for making their blockade programme a success.
BNP and its allies in the ongoing movement enforced a 48-hour countrywide shutdown from November 19 and then announced a 48-hour blockade from November 22 and another phase of a 48-hour blockade from November 26 which will end at 6:00m on Tuesday.
The opposition parties have so far observed blockades in seven phases to mount pressure on the Awami League government to quit power and hold the next election under a non-partisan administration.
They also observed a nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal on October 29 in protest against the attacks on BNP’s grand rally at Nayapaltan that ended amid the incidents of torching vehicles and clashes, leaving three people dead.
Half an hour into the start of BNP’s much-talked-about grand rally at Nayapaltan on October 28, BNP leaders and workers locked in a clash with the ruling party activists and police at Kakrail. The violent clashes soon spread around Nayapaltan, foiling the rally midway.
New Age